MLB on FOX Returns With Multi-Year, Season Highs

The return of MLB on FOX delivered an MLB ratings high, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball suffered another decline — albeit with a good excuse.

Last Saturday’s season premiere of MLB on FOX, featuring Angels-Yankees in 65% of markets, had a 1.6 rating and 2.5 million viewers — up a tick in ratings and 7% in viewership from the network’s first window last year,* which aired one week earlier in the season (ft. Mets-Dodgers: 2.3M).

It was the most-watched MLB on FOX opener in three years (2015: 2.7M) and the highest rated and most-watched MLB telecast of the season. The previous highs were a 1.4 and 2.2 million for Angels-Yankees on ESPN in April.

Earlier in the day, Royals-Rangers had a 0.34 and 536,000 (+13%) on Fox Sports 1.

Shifting to ESPN, Giants-Cubs drew a 0.6 rating and 1.0 million viewers on Sunday Night Baseball. Because the NBA Eastern Conference Finals went to a seventh game, SNB aired on ESPN2. As one would expect given the channel shift — and the competition — ratings fell 24% and viewership 17% from the same weekend last year (Mets-Pirates: 0.8, 1.2M).

All nine Sunday Night Baseball windows this season have posted a decline in ratings and viewership, though last week’s comes with an obvious caveat.

On Memorial Day, Astros-Yankees led ESPN’s tripleheader with 958,000 viewers — up 14% from last year (Yankees-Orioles: 841K) and up 18% from 2016 (White Sox-Mets: 809K). White Sox-Indians had 645,000 later in the afternoon (-18%) while Giants-Rockies drew 530,000 opposite another NBA Game 7 in primetime (-37%).

Rounding out the recent action, Wednesday’s Astros-Yankees game had a 0.6 rating and 904,000 viewers on ESPN — up 49% in ratings and 52% in viewership from last year (Dodgers-Cardinals: 0.39, 595K), and flat and up 2% respectively from 2016 (Dodgers-Cubs: 0.6, 885K).

* Not including a special early season Yankees-Cubs game.

[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 5.30 a, b; Programming Insider 6.1]