Buoyed by record viewership for the Sochi Winter Games, the NHL regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Premier League's three most-watched months on U.S. sports cable, as well as rising ratings for Formula One and IndyCar racing, NBCSN averaged 203,000 Total Day viewers (6 a.m.-6 a.m.) in the first half of 2014 - marking the most-watched January-June in the network's history, according to live plus same day data released by The Nielsen Company.
In the first six months of 2014 (Dec. 30-June 29), NBCSN's Total Day viewership jumped 86% vs. last year's first half (109,000), and is up 61% from the prior best first half (126,000 in 2009). Even excluding the Winter Olympics, NBCSN averaged 150,000 viewers -- up 38% from 2013 and 19% from the prior record in '09. Over the past 12 months (July '13-June '14), NBCSN's Total Day growth tops all other sports cable networks with a 29% increase in viewership (to 141,000 average viewers), a 29% increase in Adults 18-49, and a 27% increase in Adults 25-54. In addition: In the second quarter (March 31-June 29), NBCSN posted its most-watched Primetime quarter ever, highlighted by the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, averaging 722,000 viewers - up 14% from '13 (632,000). In the key Adult 18-49 and Adult 25-54 demos, NBCSN set quarterly Primetime records averaging 354,000 and 375,000 Q2 viewers, respectively. NBCSN also set a record for second-quarter Total Day viewership with an average of 191,000 viewers - up 25% from '13.Videos