ESPN scored a big increase for Sunday Night Baseball. In other news, MLB was not much of a draw on Fox Sports 1 and TBS, and the USA Gymnastics Championships generated gains on NBC Saturday night.
Big Increase For Angels/Royals on Sunday Night Baseball
- The Angels/Royals Sunday Night Baseball game drew 1.9 million viewers on ESPN, up 30% from Nationals/Braves last year (1.5M) and up 10% from Rays/Dodgers in 2013 (1.7M). The Royals’ win was just the second Sunday night game since May to score an increase. The following night, Giants/Cardinals drew 968,000 on Monday Night Baseball — the sixth-largest weeknight audience of the season on any network. (via ShowBuzz Daily [1], [2])
Slow Week For MLB on FS1, TBS
- Saturday’s Nationals/Giants Major League Baseball game, which started at 10 PM ET, drew 239,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 — the network’s second-smallest audience of the season. Only Angels/Giants in May drew fewer viewers (185K). Earlier in the evening, Angels/Royals drew 477,000 viewers on the network. Over on TBS, Pirates/Mets drew a season-low 303,000 viewers on Sunday afternoon. (via Sports TV Ratings, TV Media Insights)
Double-Digit Bump For Primetime Women’s Gymnastics
- NBC drew a 1.6 final rating and 2.4 million viewers for the women’s competition at the USA Gymnastics Championships Saturday night, up 23% in ratings and 18% in viewership from last year (1.3, 2.0M) and up a tick and 4%, respectively, from 2013 (1.5, 2.3M). Excluding Olympic years, it was the highest rated and most-watched telecast of the event since primetime coverage in 2011 (1.8, 2.8M). (via TV Media Insights)
