Ratings are up for the 2009 MLB Division Series, which may make up for the mediocre numbers during the regular season.
Regular season MLB coverage averaged a 1.1 U.S. rating and 1.6 million viewers on ESPN, down 8% in ratings from last year. To put that in perspective, NBA games on ESPN averaged a 1.1 and 1.7 million during the 2008-09 season, while college football games on the network averaged a 2.2 and 3.4 million through Week 5 of the ’09 season.
In particular, ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecasts averaged a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.5 million viewers, off 6% in ratings from last year. Sunday Night Baseball accounted for the three highest ratings of the season*, as three Yankees/Red Sox Sunday night games each drew a 3.0 U.S. rating.
Over on TBS, regular season MLB coverage averaged a 0.6 U.S. rating and 930,000 viewers — up a tick in ratings and 27% in viewers from a 0.5 and 730,000 last year.
TBS was the only MLB television partner to have an increase in ratings during the ’09 regular season. In addition to the declines on ESPN, FOX averaged a record low 1.8 rating for its regular season MLB coverage.
* Does not include the Tigers/Twins AL Central Tiebreaker, which drew a 4.3 U.S. rating on TBS.
Sources: Sports Business Journal, The Biz of Baseball
