Even with a substantial increase in the final week of the season, Major League Baseball on FOX tied last year’s record low rating.
FOX averaged a 1.8 rating and 2.7 million viewers for regular season baseball coverage during the 2010 season, according to Sports Business Daily. The 1.8 is tied with last year as the lowest average rating ever for Major League Baseball on broadcast television.
FOX has either set or tied record lows in each of the past four seasons.
Despite the record low numbers, the season ended on a bright note. Regional action featuring Yankees/Red Sox drew a 2.2 and 3.385 million viewers on FOX Saturday afternoon, up 83% in ratings and 94% in viewership from the final telecast of last season (KC/MIN*: 1.2, 1.741 mil).
Saturday’s telecast marked just the eighth time in 26 telecasts this season that FOX drew at least a 2.0 rating for MLB coverage, matching last year’s total.
Dating back to May 2008, 47 of the last 72 MLB telecasts on FOX (65%) have failed to draw at least a 2.0 rating. No MLB telecast on FOX has drawn at least a 3.0 rating since July 2008.
For the third straight year, regular season baseball on FOX trailed the NBA on ABC (2.3, 3.694 mil). From 2003 to 2007, baseball on FOX topped the NBA on ABC each year.
For weekly MLB on FOX ratings and a chart of MLB regular season ratings on broadcast dating back to 1993, click here.
Asterisk (*) indicates featured game of window.
