The Fourth of July holiday was good to MLB on FOX.
Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX earned a 1.6 final rating and 2.7 million viewers Saturday night, down 16% in ratings and 3% in viewership from the network’s sixth primetime window last year (1.9, 2.8M) and down 27% and 23%, respectively, from the sixth such telecast in 2013 (2.2, 3.5M). Keep in mind last year’s telecast featured Yankees/Red Sox.
Though down from last year, Saturday’s telecast ranks as the most-watched of the season on FOX and the network’s second-most watched in the past two years. It ranks as the season’s second-most watched telecast on any network, trailing only Cardinals/Cubs on ESPN2 Opening Night (3.4M). That the performance took place on the Fourth of July, when viewing levels are usually depressed, is even more impressive.
Head-to-head, MLB on FOX easily topped its chief sports competition — NASCAR Xfinity Series racing on NBCSN (1.6M). As one would expect, it was no match for NBC’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (2.9, 5.0M).
In other action Saturday, Rays/Yankees drew 624,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 — the network’s fifth-largest audience of the season.
(Sat. numbers via TV Media Insights, ShowBuzz Daily)
