ESPN had mixed results for the start of the 2016 Major League Baseball season.
Sunday’s Mets/Royals MLB Opening Night game scored a 1.8 final rating and 2.9 million viewers on ESPN, down 10% in ratings and 14% in viewership from Cardinals/Cubs on ESPN2 last year (2.0, 3.4M) but up 29% and 27%, respectively, from Dodgers/Padres on ESPN in 2014 (1.4, 2.3M). Though down from last year, the Royals’ win still scored the second-largest Opening Night audience in the past six years.
Viewership declined despite a scheduling swap that moved baseball up to ESPN and half of the Women’s Final Four down to ESPN2. The result was much lighter basketball opposition, as the competing Syracuse/Washington game had a third fewer viewers than last year.
Earlier in the day, Cardinals/Pirates scored 2.0 million viewers on ESPN and Blue Jays/Rays 1.0 million on ESPN2. There were no comparable windows last year. To put the numbers in perspective, last year’s top day game on ESPN — Tigers/Athletics on Memorial Day — had just over 1.0 million.
Shifting to Monday, Mariners/Rangers had 903,000 viewers (+17%), Dodgers/Padres 899,000 (-17%) and Cubs/Angels 559,000 (+1%).
Rounding out the opening week action, Tuesday’s rescheduled Astros/Yankees game had 639,000. Last year’s comparable Blue Jays/Yankees matchup, which aired as scheduled on a Monday afternoon, had 870,000.
