The Yankees-Cubs series delivered a double-digit bump on ESPN over the weekend, though it was a below average draw on FOX.
Yankees-Cubs earned a 1.5 final rating and 2.4 million viewers on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball over the weekend, up 25% in ratings and 29% in viewership from Red Sox-Yankees last year (1.2, 1.9M) and up 50% and 52% respectively from Royals-Tigers in 2015 (1.0, 1.6M).
The Yankees’ 18-inning win delivered the third-largest MLB audience of the season, trailing Cubs-Red Sox the previous week (2.5M) and Cubs-Cardinals on Opening Night (3.6M). It would likely have topped Cubs-Red Sox if not for running past 2 AM ET; in the overnights, ratings were 11% higher for the first nine innings than for the full six-hour game.
The Cubs have now played in the five most-watched games of the season, four of which have aired on ESPN. Aided by the defending champions, the ESPN family of networks has averaged a 0.8 rating (flat) and 1.4 million viewers (+21%) for Major League Baseball coverage, and a 1.4 (+14%) and 2.3 million (+15%) for Sunday Night Baseball in particular.
The lone non-ESPN game in the top five was Saturday’s Yankees-Cubs matchup, which had a 1.4 and 2.2 million on the FOX broadcast network. There was no comparable window last year. Figures were below average compared to last year’s Saturday night slate, which averaged a 1.5 and 2.4 million. Compared to the last fully national MLB window on FOX, ratings increased 100% and viewership 121% from a Friday night Rays-Yankees game opposite the Olympics last year (0.7, 1.0M).
The first game of the series pulled 355,000 on MLB Network Friday afternoon, up 16% from Nationals-Cubs in the same slot last year (306K).
In other action, ESPN earned 594,000 for Giants-Mets on Monday night (+1%) and 413,000 for Blue Jays-Yankees last Wednesday (-26%). Fox Sports 1 earned a 0.2 (-50%) and 370,000 (-44%) for Indians-Royals on Saturday afternoon.
(Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 5.9; ESPN averages from ESPN)
