Not only was the opening weekend of the 2024-25 Premier League season fantastic, but it was also historic for U.S. broadcaster NBC, delivering record-breaking viewership numbers.
In fact, it was the most-watched Premier League opening weekend in history in the United States, with six fixtures averaging 820,000 viewers live on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, and NBC Sports other platforms from Friday, August 16 to Sunday, August 18.
Manchester City's trip to Chelsea in Matchday 1's penultimate fixture, in particular, stood out, with Sunday's Stamford Bridge battle earning an average of 2.218 million viewers across NBC, Telemundo, and Peacock.
Of those 2.218 million average viewers, 1.85 million tuned in to NBC and Peacock, with the remaining 368,000 viewers catching the action on Spanish-language network Telemundo.
Last season's opening weekend was also headlined by a Stamford Bridge showdown, with Liverpool traveling to Chelsea on Matchday 1 of the 2023-24 campaign. In comparison, this tie had an average minute audience of 973,000, albeit this was on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock alone.
Furthermore, Manchester City's 2-0 win over Chelsea over the weekend, thanks to its 2.218 million average viewership, came close to the most-watched Premier League game in history on U.S. television. That record is currently held by last season's 0-0 draw between Manchester City and Arsenal, which garnered 2.6 million average viewers.
Additionally, Sunday's fixture is now the fourth most-watched English-language Premier League match in U.S. history thanks to its 1.85 million average viewers across NBC and Peacock. This is as per NBC's official rankings released in April 2024 which had last December's Liverpool 0-0 Manchester United clash in fourth with 1.77 million average viewers.
Elsewhere, the Premier League's opening fixture between Manchester United and Fulham on Friday, which the Red Devils won 1-0, averaged 480,000 viewers.
*Figures courtesy of World Soccer Talk
