Manchester United had 54 matches televised last season, the most of any Premier League side in a single campaign over the past five seasons, according to new findings by MoneySuperMarket.
In fact, this is more than six other Premier League clubs have each had over the past five years in total (Bournemouth had 34 games televised in that time, Brighton 52 games, Burnley 46 games, Huddersfield 25 games, Stoke 49 games and West Brom 51 games).
In contrast, the number of Chelsea games on TV has decreased each season, down from 44 in 2012/2013 to 33 in 2016/2017 – a 25% decrease, despite them having won the Premier League title twice in the last three seasons.
These findings come as part of research which examined when and where fans can watch their team on TV. The start of the football season historically sees an above average number of customers taking out sports TV packages, but 2017 has seen an explosion – with a 1,000% increase in people taking out new packages** – due to the great value deals available.
To help fans see where and how often their team’s games have been televised over the past five seasons,
MoneySuperMarket has launched a guide on its website. This will enable supporters to choose the right package for them.
Even with BT’s exclusive European football coverage, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Emirates Marketing Project, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are still being shown more often on Sky and this is reflected in the number of live fixtures between the so-called ‘Big Six’.
The Manchester derby has been a Sky exclusive with BT yet to televise a single game between North-West giants and it is a similar story with Manchester United vs Liverpool as Sky have aired 11 out of the last 13 fixtures between the sides.
Dan Plant, Editor-In-Chief at MoneySuperMarket, said: “Our data shows that the public’s interest in sports-related TV products is at its highest when the new season begins, with 46% of customers making their choices at the start of the season.
“We’ve analysed the games, the goals and ratio of big games across all broadcasters and found that Sky are still airing more games per Premier League team despite BT gaining exclusive rights to European competitions in 2015/2016.
“Year-on-year, BT are closing the gap in regard to number of live games but the data shows that regardless of who you support, Sky are likelier to televise more of your team’s matches. Though, fans of Stoke City may prefer to switch off altogether given their team is averaging less than a goal a game when on the box.”
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/how-many-times-has-your-team-appeared-on-tv-over-the-last-5-years
