The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry drew ESPN’s largest audience for a Major League Baseball game in nearly two years.
Sunday’s Red Sox/Yankees tilt, the final game of a four-game series between the rivals, drew a 3.0 U.S. rating (3.5 cable) and 4.7 million viewers on ESPN — up 67% in ratings and viewership from a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.8 million viewers for Cardinals/Cubs on the comparable date last year, and the most viewed MLB telecast on ESPN since 2007.
The Sunday night game ranks as the highest rated, most viewed MLB telecast of the season — on broadcast or cable. Additionally, the game finished as the 14th most-viewed program of the week on cable.
Despite the strong numbers, Sunday’s game was beaten handily head-to-head by the NFL Hall of Fame Game on NBC (7.9 million to 4.7 million). Keep in mind that the NFL aired on broadcast, while the baseball game aired on cable.
So far this season, ESPN has averaged 4.6 million viewers for two Yankees/Red Sox games on Sunday Night Baseball, up from 4.1 million for three Sunday night games between the rivals last year.
Source: ESPN
