Sky Sports has "hit back in the football ratings battle after its coverage of the Manchester derby, the first blockbuster game of the season," attracted more than 2 million viewers at its peak -- twice the audience rival BT Sport achieved for Leicester’s game with Liverpool, according to Nic Fildes of FINANCIAL TIMES. Sky’s "emphatic win follows a much stronger start to the season for BT, which had won the Saturday ratings head-to-head for three weeks on the trot." BT "claimed the honours on the opening day of the season," with in-game average ratings of 726,900 for Man City vs. Sunderland, beating Sky’s 723,900 for Leicester vs. Hull. BT said that it had "remained on top of the table for the next two weekends." Overall, ratings at BT Sport "have crept up" 8% this year while Sky’s Premier League ratings have drifted “slightly” according to insiders. Sky uses different metrics and "disputes that BT had higher peak ratings on some Saturdays." Even so, "both broadcasters have be under pressure to show that the rampant inflation in TV rights is justified." Sky appeared "unconcerned over its seemingly slow start on Saturdays, having added Friday night games to its offering for the first time and maintained its lock" on the "Super Sunday" broadcast schedule, when most fans tune in (FT, 9/11).
RECORD-BREAKING: Premiership Rugby kicked off with a record-breaking weekend on TV both at home and abroad. For the first time in the history of the competition, more than one million people watched the opening round of Premiership Rugby in the U.K. and Ireland on both BT Sport and ITV Sport. The competition was also broadcast live on NBC in America for the first time and in a record-breaking 175 million households across the world. The star of the show, in terms of live rugby, was the Gloucester Rugby vs. Leicester Tigers match which achieved a peak audience of 257,000 on BT Sport, the most ever for a Friday night fixture (Premiership Rugby).
