Manchester United’s Carabao Cup final victory over Newcastle United on Sunday was watched by a record audience of 4.26 million people on Sky Sports, according to recent reports.
The previous competition record set in the 2022 final between Liverpool and Chelsea was surpassed by a peak audience of 60,000, as Erik ten Hag’s team lifted the trophy for a sixth time.
The average audience for the match was also up by over half a million viewers, with 3.79 million tuning in across the 90 minutes. This unprecedented number can be attributed to Sky Sports’ wide reach and the comprehensive promotion of the competition across all linear, digital, and social media platforms by the broadcaster.
The cumulative television audience for the entire competition rose to over 18 million, a significant increase of one million from the 2021/22 season. Furthermore, the average audience went up from 1.13 million to 1.2 million.
The attendance for Sunday’s final at Wembley was 87,306, the highest in the tournament since the 2014/15 season. The total number of fans attending a Carabao Cup fixture this season exceeded 1.5 million, an eight per cent increase from the previous season. Additionally, the average fixture attendance was 16,685, the highest figure in this category since the 2001/02 season.
Despite being considered a secondary domestic competition, the Carabao Cup has shown that it can attract high levels of viewership and attendance.
