Premiership a #BIG hit again

SPOTLIGHT: Over the Christmas period a whopping 2.6 million fans tuned in to the Premiership, eclipsing last season’s Festive Fixtures then-record total of 1.8 million.

Round Eight recorded the highest ever average audience, with cumulative peak audiences increasing by 44 percent across the two festive rounds.

Big Game 16, which saw hosts Harlequins and Leicester Tigers play out a stunning 34-all draw, was a full house with all 80,634 available seats filled for the showcase match at Twickenham in Round Nine.

The traditional Christmas clash attracted a 31 percent higher average audience than last season’s total, growing 14 percent on one channel and 63 percent on another.

At the same stage as last season through 10 rounds, the cumulative Premiership audience is 44 percent higher, the average audience is up 11 percent and the average audience across the top two rating fixtures has increased by 27 percent.

Six fixtures were completely sold-out over the two festive rounds.

Bath, Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester, Northampton Saints, and Saracens all enjoyed a bumper home crowd with Harlequins also packing out Twickenham.

Round Nine saw a season-high occupancy of 95 percent, with the Christmas becoming an increasingly popular occasion for families to enjoy a feast of the breathless, attacking rugby on offer in the Premiership.

Stadium occupancy is also significantly higher year-on-year, averaging at 81 percent – an increase of ten percentage points (71 percent) on the equivalent stage last season with large crowds forecast to continue is the play-off race continues to heat up.

As the Premiership 2024/25 now passes the halfway stage, the race for the top four spots is shaping up to be another classic with just ten points separating high-flying Bristol Bears in second place with defending champions Northampton Saints in eighth.