Report: Early TV viewing figures for PREM add to upbeat mood

TV viewing figures for round one of the new Gallagher PREM season are double what they were at this stage of the competition last year.

Entertainment may mean different things to different people, but it seems armchair fans are buying into the high-scoring fare on offer. The 52 tries scored last weekend are a record for the opening round of the 30-season old competition, which for the last four seasons, has only involved 10 teams as opposed to anything between 11 and 14 in the past.

As reported by Andy Milnes of Neisen Sports, across four metered televised matches, the cumulative audience on TNT Sports was over 795,000, compared with 390,000 last year.

Those numbers do not include non-metered coverage of Bath’s 33-17 win over between Harlequins on the opening night, which was carried on TNT Sports 5.

“It is a performance not only hints at burgeoning interest but also underlines the value of a healthy distribution mix,” Milnes wrote on LinkedIn.

ITV have the rights to six regular season matches this season, plus the final, mirroring last season’s deal.

And the terrestrial broadcaster kicked off their coverage with Saracens’ impressive 40-38 win over Leicester at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

It was screened free-to-air on ITV1 and managed an average programme audience of 390,000, with a peak of 544,000.

ITV’s schedule for the first half of the 18-round regular season also includes Sale Sharks’ clash with Exeter, on Sunday, 6 December at 3pm (ITV1/ITVX) and Harlequins vs Northampton in Big Game 18 at Allianz Stadium on Monday, 28 December (ITV4/ITVX).

The remaining three games will be announced in due course, with ITV waiting to see which games will have most riding on them.

Now it officially operates as a closed league, the jeopardy of the bottom end of the league has been removed. But with eight out of the 10 teams battling for a Champions Cup spot – unless the format changes, which has been discussed of late – and a place in the top-four playoffs, there are still plenty of narratives for TNT Sports to push.

While TV viewing figures point to an encouraging start, the number of people going to matches is down by 5.6% when comparing like-for-like fixtures.

Last season Leicester’s home game against Saracens drew a sellout 25,849 crowd, whereas last weekend 20,183 punters turned up at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

The drop-off in this instance can be explained by the fact that last year’s match was played over the festive period, when people are more inclined to leave the comfort of their own homes and attend games in person.

However, Exeter will be disappointed by their opening day crowd of 8,682, which is well down on last year’s gate for the visit of Gloucester in Round 5 (10,006).

And if Sale Sharks were expecting their summer transfer activity to give them a bump-up in attendance, they were sadly mistaken.

The CorpAcq Stadium was only half-full for the debuts of Courtney Lawes, Joe Marchant and Alex Lozowski, with 5,937 pitching up as opposed to 6,257 for last year’s game against Bristol Bears, and that was a Round 18 dead rubber.

Two games did see an increase in attendance. Harlequins attracted 2,078 more fans through the gate (an increase of 16.3%) for the visit of Bath, who were also their opening day opponents last year, Meanwhile, there wasn’t a seat to be had at the newly-named DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, as champions Northampton enjoyed the support of a 15,153 sell-out crowd against Newcastle, compared to 13,762 in Round 11 last season ( up 10.1%).

The total attendance for the opening round of the 2026/27 Gallagher PREM season was 64,755 (68,596 in 2025/26), an average of 12,951 per game.