“Sunday Night Baseball” was not exactly a home run in its NBC debut, but whether on the diamond or in the ratings, even a single is still a hit.
The NBC debut of MLB “Sunday Night Baseball” (Guardians-Braves) averaged 2.2 million viewers last weekend across Nielsen (1.1 rating, 1.95M viewers) and Adobe Analytics — up 13% from a Nielsen-only 1.95 million for Dodgers-Cubs on ESPN last year.
The Braves’ blowout win delivered the largest April audience for “Sunday Night Baseball” since 2022. Note that Nielsen methodological changes — specifically the expansion of its out-of-home viewing sample and shift to a new methodology that combines its traditional panel with “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes — generally skew comparisons to past years.
On a combined basis, the telecast was the most-watched MLB window of the week. On a Nielsen-only basis, the FOX Saturday night regional window came out ahead with a 1.1 and 2.13 million. (NBC’s position is that because Nielsen does not track its streaming viewership, its combined Nielsen + Adobe audience figures are comparable to the Nielsen-only figures of other networks.)
Guardians-Braves was no match for any of NBC’s 11 “Sunday Night Basketball” games this season — the least-watched of which was Timberwolves-Celtics on the opening weekend of NCAA March Madness (2.4M) — but topped the competing NBA regular season finales on ESPN (Nuggets-Spurs: 0.9, 1.66M; Magic-Celtics: 0.7, 1.28M).
NBC is not contractually allowed to carry NBA games on the final night of the regular season, which for the past several years has fallen on a Sunday — creating the only opportunity until late May for NBC to carry “Sunday Night Baseball” on its broadcast network.
The network is not slated to air another “Sunday Night Baseball” game until May 31, though that could change depending on the results of NBA playoff series.
NBC previously averaged 2.7 million for its Opening Day doubleheader, including 3.2 million viewers for Diamondbacks-Dodgers — still the top audience of the early MLB season — and 2.3 million for Pirates-Mets.
All other NBCU MLB inventory, including the two previous “Sunday Night Baseball” games this season, has aired on Peacock and NBCSN, neither of which are Nielsen-rated.
NBCUniversal is in its first full season carrying Major League Baseball games since 1989, having carried partial schedules in 1994-95 (“The Baseball Network”), 1996-2000 (the All-Star Game and postseason) and 2022-23 (one-off simulcasts of games on Peacock).
