MLB on FOX started its new season with double-digit declines in ratings and viewership.
Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX earned a 1.4 final rating and 2.2 million viewers Saturday night, down 13% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (1.6, 2.7M). The 1.4 rating is tied as the fifth-lowest ever for primetime baseball on broadcast television.
Sub-2.0 ratings have become the norm for Baseball Night in America — and by extension, MLB on FOX as a whole. None of the network’s primetime windows have cracked a 2.0 rating since 2013.
On a packed Saturday night, MLB on FOX earned the same rating as the NHL conference finals on NBC, though the NHL game had a slightly larger audience (2.27M to 2.24M). It trailed NASCAR’s All-Star Race on Fox Sports 1 (2.0, 3.3M) and the NBA conference finals on ESPN (3.3, 5.4M). Of those four sporting events, it was the lowest rated among adults 18-49 (0.5).
UPDATE 6/2: Post originally (and quite mistakenly) said MLB on FOX had its highest rated and most-watched season debut in three years, despite the fact that ratings and viewership both declined. Now corrected.
(Sat. numbers via Programming Insider)
