The clash between Chelsea and Manchester City averaged 1.85 million viewers for NBC. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The NBC Sports US network has generated its highest-ever viewing figures on record for coverage of an English Premier League (EPL) soccer opening weekend.

The first set of matches from the 20-team EPL, which took place between Friday (August 16) and Monday (August 19) saw an average viewing number of 820,000 across the six games that were live across the various NBC platforms (NBC/Peacock, USA Network, and NBC Sports Digital).

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The showpiece game of the weekend, a clash between Chelsea and defending champions Manchester City, averaged a total audience delivery figure for NBC of 1.85 million. This made it the most-watched opening weekend EPL match on record in the US, NBC revealed.

Telemundo, the Spanish-language network run by NBCUniversal, brought in another 368,000 average viewers for that game (which Manchester City won 2-0).

NBC also attracted an average of 480,000 viewers for the first EPL 2024-25 game, a 1-0 win for Manchester United at home to Fulham.

The major network holds EPL rights in the US (English and Spanish language) through a deal unveiled in November 2021 which covers the 2022-28 cycle.

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The agreement, for one of NBC’s foremost soccer and sports properties, is reportedly worth £2 billion ($2.69 billion when it was announced).

In late May, NBC claimed that its coverage of the 2023-24 EPL delivered the largest average audience for English soccer’s top tier in US media history.

The season averaged a total audience delivery of 546,000 viewers per TV match window on NBC Sports, making it the most-watched Premier League campaign of all time in the country.

The previous record was 541,000 set in the 2015-16 season.

Six of the seven most-watched EPL matches in US history were broadcast in 2023-24, while the last campaign also marked the first time the Peacock streaming service exceeded 1 million viewers for a Premier League match, reaching an average minute audience of 1.15 million for Arsenal’s match against Liverpool on February 4.

Earlier this month, NBC also noted a significant uptick in audience numbers for its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, as compared with the figures from the previous summer games, in Tokyo three years ago.

NBC attracted 30.6 million viewers across its platforms for the Olympics, up 82% (16.9 million) from Tokyo.