The Barclay's Premier League kicked off its 2014/15 season this weekend, and NBC Sports' excellent coverage--bolstered by the streaming of every game not shown on TV--was a hit.
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3.3 million viewers tuned in to NBC Sports' coverage of English football's top tier Saturday and Sunday. 8.9 million minutes of Premier League action were streamed total online--NBC's commitment to show every game digitally has paid off.
Only a couple games can be broadcast on TV at once through NBC's various channels, but when the company bought the rights to show league games in the U.S., it promised to show every minute of every match. Last year (its first) NBC Sports followed through, and the high quality livestreams showed every match, which you can access for free as long as your cable provider is one of the partners.
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It's a model that most sports fans would probably be happy if their league adopted. NFL games are usually region-specific aside from a select few broadcast everywhere, meaning there are plenty of games that go unseen by some fans, while another region won't see others. For the NFL, though, there are premium channels that one can purchase to access all of the games and other coverage. If the league can continue to profit off this, it's unlikely to switch to the online cable provider streams.
Washington, DC, Boston, and Baltimore were the top three markets for NBC's coverage. The opening weekend viewership improved three percent over last year. More statistics and viewing numbers can be found at the official announcement.
