Gallagher Premiership TV audiences double in opening round as 52-try record fuels optimism

The Gallagher Premiership has opened the 2025/26 season with television audiences more than double those of a year ago, offering an encouraging early signal for the competition’s commercial health despite a dip in stadium attendances.

Across four metered televised matches, the cumulative audience reached over 795,000, compared with 390,000 at the same stage last season, according to figures reported by Andy Milnes of Nielsen Sports. Those numbers exclude non-metered coverage of Bath’s 33-17 win over Harlequins on the opening night.

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

The viewing surge coincided with a record 52 tries scored across the opening round — the highest tally in the competition’s 30-season history. The Premiership has operated with 10 clubs for the past four seasons, down from as many as 14 in earlier eras, making the record all the more striking on a per-team basis.

Saracens’ 40-38 win over Leicester at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, screened free-to-air, drew an average audience of 390,000 with a peak of 544,000. ITV hold rights to six regular-season matches this season plus the final, mirroring last year’s arrangement. Upcoming fixtures on the terrestrial broadcaster include Sale Sharks against Exeter on Sunday 6 December and Harlequins versus Northampton in Big Game 18 at Allianz Stadium on Monday 28 December, with three further selections to be confirmed later in the season.

The picture is less rosy at the turnstiles. Attendance figures are down 5.6% on a like-for-like basis. Leicester’s home opener against Saracens drew 20,183 — well below the 25,849 sellout the same fixture attracted during the festive period last season, a difference the clubs attribute largely to timing. Exeter’s opening-day crowd of 8,682 was notably below the 10,006 who attended their Round 5 home game against Gloucester last year.

Sale Sharks, who invested heavily in the transfer market over the summer, also failed to fill the CorpAcq Stadium for the debuts of new signings including Courtney Lawes and Joe March.

With promotion and relegation removed under the Premiership’s closed-league structure, the threat of the drop no longer drives late-season drama at the bottom of the table. However, eight of the ten clubs are expected to be in contention for Champions Cup qualification and a top-four playoff berth, giving broadcasters and fans plenty of competitive storylines to follow across the 18-round regular season.