MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 17: Raheem Sterling of Manchester City scores his team’s first goal past Adam Federici of Bournemouth during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and A.F.C. Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

This is the third year of the Premier League on NBC, and the relationship is going well between the two parties. So well, in fact, that NBC re-upped with the Premier League for another six years and $950 million in August. And while the overall viewership numbers for the Premier League pale in comparison to the other major American sports, there has been some definite improvement in the viewership totals.

According to an all-encompassing article from the Wall Street Journal, Premier League matches on NBC’s family of networks are averaging a healthy 563,000 viewers this year. That’s up 19% from last year, and an impressive 150% from the 2012-13 season, the last to be split in America on Fox and ESPN. Fans are also continuing to make the most of NBC’s expansive Live Extra streaming service, watching 139 million live minutes of coverage this year – that’s a 44% jump from last year.

NBC has expanded their Premier League empire as well, delegating an additional 40 games to USA Network as the popularity of the league has continued to grow stateside.

But what does the future hold for the Premier League in America? The Journal quotes a pair of consultants that are quite optimistic.

“I think they have come up with a cost-effective, NFL-style package,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke. “It’s like finding a sleeper draft pick in the fifth or sixth round and realizing this could be your franchise quarterback.”

[…]

Frank Hawkins, a founder of New York-based consulting firm Scalar Media Partners LLC and a former NFL executive, said continuing shifts in the U.S. population and its tastes have led him to believe that the Premier League may eventually become the second-most watched sport in the U.S. behind the NFL. He cited the growing immigrant and Hispanic populations, the declining participation in youth football and baseball, and soccer’s popularity among both men and women.

“In the past, soccer being big in the U.S. was measured by the popularity of its domestic league,” Mr. Hawkins said. “That’s not true anymore.”

Second-most watched sport in America? That seems more than a little optimistic. Consider this – the most-watched Premier League match in America was last November’s Arsenal-Manchester United match with 1.4 million viewers. The gains are impressive, but the Premier League still lags behind NASCAR and the NHL among NBC sports properties, let alone the other major American sports.

When the extension was announced two months ago, we called the relationship between the two parties “the best marriage in sports media“. Given the way this season has gone so far, I think we can assume that neither side will regret continuing their partnership.

[Wall Street Journal]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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