The Yankees-Red Sox London Series delivered season-high ratings on both FOX and ESPN.
Saturday’s Yankees-Red Sox Major League Baseball game from London averaged a 1.9 rating and 2.86 million viewers on FOX, marking the highest rated and second-most watched game of the season. Regional coverage on FOX the previous week — featuring Astros-Yankees — holds the top spot (2.91M).
Ratings and viewership were the highest for an afternoon regular season game since 2013. Keep in mind that afternoon games have largely been limited to TBS and MLB Network, with FOX and ESPN carrying only a handful of late season or holiday matinees.
The Yankees’ high-scoring, five-hour win was the top sporting event of the weekend.
Sunday’s second game of the London Series had a 1.4 and 2.06 million on ESPN, marking the highest rated and most-watched game of the season on cable — despite a 10 AM ET start time. The previous highs were a 1.2 and 1.97 million for Red Sox-Yankees on ESPN four weeks earlier.
Neither game could match Red Sox-Yankees on the comparable weekend last year, when the rivalry had a 2.0 and 3.23 million on FOX (as part of a regional window) and a 1.5 and 2.44 million on ESPN. Those telecasts aired in primetime.
As for this weekend’s primetime windows, regional action featuring Dodgers-Rockies had a 1.4 (-30%) and 2.17 million (-33%) on FOX Saturday night, while Braves-Mets drew a 0.85 (-44%) and 1.33 million (-45%) on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
Figures for Saturday’s Nationals-Tigers game on FS1 were not available.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 7.2]
