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Premier League viewership up 20% among 18-34s in US, Nielsen Sports says

Nielsen Sports data released on Monday shows Premier League viewership among 18-34-year-old Americans is up 20% this season, after the US co-hosted the World Cup. Average audiences on NBC and USA Network rose 3% to half a million.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: CNA
Image: Al Jazeera

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Premier League viewership among Americans aged 18-34 is up 20 per cent so far this season, according to Nielsen Sports data released on Monday 5 October, following the US co-hosting this year's World Cup. Mixed · 2US broadcasters NBC and the USA Network have drawn an average of half a million viewers for Premier League games this season, a 3 per cent rise. Mixed · 2Jon Stainer, global GM at Nielsen Sports, said the World Cup "served as a powerful catalyst, expanding the Premier League's footprint across a far broader demographic in the US", and that fandom is expanding rapidly among younger, diverse audiences.

Mixed · 2Just over one million Americans watched Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle United on 29 August, the most-watched Premier League match in the US this season so far. Mixed · 2Spurs have featured in three of the six most-watched Premier League games in the US this season, including a 3-0 loss at Brentford and a 0-0 home draw with Everton. Mixed · 2Major League Soccer also benefited from the growing exposure of soccer before the World Cup, with interest up 23 per cent among 16-34-year-olds.

Mixed · 2Interest in the World Cup peaked at 87 million fans in July, with women making up 44 per cent of the fanbase; Al Jazeera adds that this comes from Nielsen Fan Insights, which uses half-hour online surveys with a US sample of 3,000.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Al Jazeera reports the Nielsen figures straight, leading with the 20% rise among young Americans after the World Cup.
Emphasis
The figures and the World Cup effect; includes the methodology of the Nielsen Fan Insights survey.
Leaves out or plays down
None significant relative to the centre outlet.
Charged language
“struck a ⁠chord”“soaring”
For example
“with interest soaring 23 percent among 16-34 year olds” — Al Jazeera
“according to Nielsen Fan Insights, ‌which collects data from half-hour online surveys with a sample size of 3,000 in the US.” — Al Jazeera

Centre1 outlet

Framing
CNA reports the Nielsen Sports release as a straightforward sports-business item, leading with the 20% rise among 18-34s.
Emphasis
Audience figures, Stainer's quote and Spurs' prominence in the most-watched games.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not give the sample size or method of the Nielsen Fan Insights survey behind the World Cup fan figures.
Charged language
“struck a chord”“jumping”
For example
“The Premier League has struck a chord with young Americans after the US co-hosted this year's World Cup” — CNA
“interest jumping 23 per cent among 16-34 year olds” — CNA

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.