The FA Cup third round generated higher viewing figures for the main rights holder, TNT Sports, than any of their Premier League games this season in an indication of the competition’s enduring appeal before the fourth round, which begins on Friday.
Data obtained by the Guardian reveals that Brighton’s third-round win over Manchester United last month attracted an average audience of 876,000, with a total reach of 2.1 million, based on viewers watching for a minimum of three minutes.
The Sunday afternoon kick-off at Old Trafford captured almost 10% of the TV viewing audience at the time. TNT’s live Premier League games this season have kicked off on Saturday lunchtimes and midweek evenings.
The FA was widely criticised for selling the FA Cup to TNT, a subscription channel, for the current rights cycle, when the rights were previously shared by the BBC and ITV, but viewing figures appear to be holding up relatively well.
This season is the first of TNT’s four-year deal that gives it the right to broadcast every FA Cup tie live that does not kick off at 3pm on Saturday, in keeping with the restrictions of Uefa’s article 48 TV blackout.
Twenty-two third-round ties were broadcast live on TNT Sports or its streaming platform, Discovery+, and attracted almost five million viewers. Eleven fourth-round ties will be broadcast, starting with Hull City v Chelsea and Wrexham v Ipswich.
TNT has done a sub-licensing deal with the BBC, giving the free-to-air channel shared coverage of 14 FA Cup ties, including two in each round from the third round to the semi-finals.
The BBC’s biggest audience in the third round was the peak of 3.1m who watched Aston Villa’s win over Tottenham, a game which attracted a three-minute reach of 6.5m.
Macclesfield Town’s historic shock win over holders Crystal Palace earlier in the day had an average audience of 1.8 million and reach of 4.2 million, figures which demonstrate the value to broadcasters of later kick-offs.
The BBC has opted to show Villa v Newcastle on Saturday evening and Chelsea’s trip to Hull on Friday as its live fourth-round games.
