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matchup between top English Premier League sides, Manchester United and Liverpool, has recorded an average of 4.5 million viewers on Sky Sports.

With 4.5 million viewers, the event has become the UK pay-TV broadcasters largest ever audience for an event behind a paywall, while also becoming the second biggest audience on Sky’s pay-TV channels behind Game of Thrones.

With a peak audience of 4.8 million viewers, the matchup became Sky’s second most viewed Premier League game ever, behind a Liverpool and Everton game in June of 2020, which was broadcast simultaneously on Sky One and Pick TV (free-to-air) and recorded 4.94 million viewers.

The top of the table Manchester United and Liverpool game reportedly recorded a higher average audience than Premier League matches aired on the BBC since the COVID-19 pandemic made all games available for free-to-air broadcast in the UK.

The Mirror reported the event surpassed the previous record for an event shown only on Sky Sports pay-TV product, which was held by a Manchester United and Manchester City derby in 2012, which recorded 4.049 million viewers.

The new record holder also recorded a 25% share of the total TV audience at the time, with 41% of Sky customers who were watching TV tuning in for the match.