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Opening weekend brings record audiences

Opening weekend brings record audiences

The opening weekend of the 2023/24 Premier League generated thrilling action and record audiences in the United Kingdom and in the United States. 

Sky Sports, the main UK rights holder, reported a 40 per cent increase in viewers for its coverage of the opening weekend compared with 2022/23.  

In total Sky Sports’ five matches, from Friday night’s opener of Burnley’s hosting of champions Manchester City through to Manchester United‘s dramatic 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, were watched by eight million people. 

Of these eight million, more than a quarter, 2.5million, were aged under 35 and more than a third (2.9million) were women.  

The growth in the female audience was significant, a 50 per cent increase from last year.  

Over in the States, Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Liverpool hit record streaming numbers for NBC Sports.  

The enthralling 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge was the most-streamed Premier League match of all-time in the US, with an average minute audience of 973,000 (in English and Spanish) on NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock.  

This surpasses Peacock’s previous record of 872,000 for Liverpool versus Arsenal in April last season.