While FOX has struggled mightily with its Saturday night slate, ESPN has managed to generate modest increases for Sunday Night Baseball.
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball has averaged a 1.3 U.S. rating and 2.0 million viewers so far this season, up a tick in ratings and 9% in viewership from last year (1.2, 1.8M).
This past Sunday, the network’s Rangers/Angels game drew 2.9 million — up 184% from a delayed Rangers/Cardinals game last year (1.0M) and the most-watched Major League Baseball telecast of the season on any network. The game earned ESPN’s largest baseball audience since a Yankees/Red Sox game last August (3.1M).
Keep in mind Rangers/Angels had a massive lead-in from the United States/Portugal FIFA World Cup match, which earned 18.2 million viewers for the match portion and 13.8 million for the full telecast window (including pre-match coverage).
The season-high for Rangers/Angels came one week after Sunday Night Baseball hit a season-low for Angels/Braves. That game, which aired opposite the NBA Finals, earned 1.4 million viewers.
(Season avg. from ESPN; Sun. numbers from TV By the Numbers)
