Despite a fairly ordinary slate and strong NHL competition, baseball on FOX surged to a season-high Saturday night.
Regional Major League Baseball action featuring Angels/Red Sox in 46% of markets drew a 3.2 overnight rating on FOX Saturday night, up 23% from coverage featuring Mets/Yankees last year (2.6), and up 68% from afternoon coverage featuring Cubs/Cardinals in 2011 (1.9). [UPDATED 6/14: According to ShowBuzz Daily, the telecast had a 2.2 overnight rating.]
The 3.2 is the highest of the season for baseball on FOX, comfortably topping the previous high of 2.5 set a week earlier.
Saturday’s telecast outdrew competing NHL playoff coverage on NBC (2.9) and easily crushed IndyCar action on ABC (1.1). Only the NBA Finals and Belmont Stakes drew a higher overnight on broadcast over the weekend.
One possible explanation for Saturday’s season-high is a lack of NBA competition. The previous primetime telecasts went head-to-head with the NBA Conference Finals.
(Saturday’s overnight from Sports Business Daily)
