Premier League Kicks Off to Most-Watched Opening Weekend Ever on NBC Sports

Back of the net! NBC Sports is knee-sliding towards the corner flag as the opening weekend of the 2025-26 English Premier League season was the most-watched ever in the U.S.

According to data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Premier League opening weekend averaged 850,000 viewers across six matches aired live on NBC/Peacock, USA Network and NBC Sports’ digital platforms (in the period Aug. 15-17). The figure is up 4 percent from the 820,000 viewers from the 2024-25 season.

Sunday’s big match between Manchester United and London-based powerhouse Arsenal, which aired on NBC, Peacock and NBC Sports’ digital platforms, averaged a healthy 2 million viewers, making it the most-watched opening weekend match on record in the U.S., as well as the second most-watched match in the U.S. ever, just behind the 2.1 million viewers who watch Manchester City-Arsenal on March 31, 2024.

Once Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage is included, the United-Arsenal game boasted an audience of 2.3 million, just behind the 2.6 million Spanish-language inclusive audience for that March 2024 City-Arsenal game.

Since securing a $2.7 billion six-year extension to its U.S. rights deal, the Premier League continues to be a huge success for NBCUniversal, driving subscriptions to Peacock, and seeing solid and growing audiences for the company across broadcast, streaming and digital.