The MLB season concluded with one of the sport’s lowest ever ratings on broadcast television. In other news, ESPN and TBS both suffered double-digit declines for their final MLB games of the season, and the Royals again had the highest local rating in baseball.
MLB on FOX Ends With Sub-1.0 Rating
- The season finale of MLB on FOX — which featured Mets/Phillies in 19% of markets, Pirates/Cardinals in 16%, and whiparound coverage of both games in 64% — had a 0.9 final rating (-17%) and 1.3 million viewers (-17%). The 0.9 rating is tied as the third-lowest ever for Major League Baseball on broadcast television, ahead of Red Sox/Yankees on the final weekend of the season in 2014 (0.8) and a special Rays/Yankees primetime game in August (0.7). Later in the day, Indians/Royals had a 0.1 and 244,000.
Steep Declines For Season’s Final Week on ESPN, TBS
- ESPN2 earned 584,000 for Blue Jays/Red Sox Friday night, the season finale on the ESPN networks, down 38% from Angels/Rangers last year (947K). It was a rough final week for ESPN, which also had steep declines for a Wednesday doubleheader of Indians/Tigers (451K, -39%) and Rockies/Giants (463K, -31%) and for Red Sox/Yankees the night before (616K, -40%). On TBS, Sunday’s Blue Jays/Red Sox finale had a 0.2 and 342,000, down a tick in ratings and 21% in viewership from Angels/Rangers last year (0.3, 432K) and down a tick and 9%, respectively, from Yankees/Red Sox in 2014 (0.3, 374K).
Royals Lead Local MLB Race Despite Decline
- Fox Sports Kansas City averaged a 10.9 for Royals games during the regular season, down 11% from last year’s record-high 12.3 but still the best local average in baseball. After failing to average even a 4.0 rating from 2006-12, the Royals have averaged at least a 6.4 in each of the past four seasons. The Cardinals were the second-highest rated team in the sport with an 8.2. In other local news, the Mets averaged a 2.73 rating on SportsNet New York during the regular season, up 4% from last year and 20% higher than the Yankees’ average on YES Network.
(Numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 10/4, Sports TV Ratings 10/3 9/29, 9/28, Kansas City Star 10/4, SNY)
