The Times: TV viewer numbers for Premier League matches in the UK have continued to rise this season

Story from The Times:

Statistics sent out to the 20 clubs last week show that Sky Sports’ average viewership has gone up this season by 4.1 per cent to 1.78 million — Sky also enjoyed a 4 per cent rise overall last season. Some analysts believe the close title races last season and this have driven more interest in the league.

Meanwhile, the rebranding of BT Sport as TNT Sports has brought an even bigger rise in viewers of its Premier League matches this season, up 14 per cent to an average of 1.15 million viewers.

Although most Premier League clubs are expecting the value of the rights to remain the same — £1.67billion a year — or slightly lower, the positive viewing numbers have prompted at least one club figure to believe that there could even be a slight rise.

The auction closes on November 30 and the outcome should be known a week to ten days later.

There are five packages on offer instead of seven, and the deals will run for four years instead of three from 2025, and there will also be about 270 live matches instead of 200 a season.

Sky are in pole position to get three of the five and will be targeting the maximum of four. TNT Sports, now part of the Discovery+ stable, will be aiming to hang on to one package and the Premier League’s biggest hope of securing a rise is if a third broadcaster, such as the British-based streaming platform DAZN, are prepared to bid high for the fifth package.