Baseball’s Subway Series delivered a season-high audience on FOX and the first Sunday Night Baseball ratings increase all season.
Regional MLB action featuring Yankees-Mets in 80% of markets had a 1.6 rating and 2.8 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, up a tick in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (mostly Orioles-Yankees: 1.5, 2.3M) but down 11% and 5% respectively from 2016 (1.8, 2.9M).
The telecast delivered the largest MLB audience of the season. The previous high was 2.5 million for regional action on FOX in late May.
On Sunday, the same Yankees-Mets matchup had a 1.4 and 2.1 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — up 61% in ratings and 60% in viewership from last year (Tigers-Red Sox: 0.85, 1.3M) and up a third and 26% respectively from 2016 (Dodgers-Giants: 1.0, 1.7M).
The Mets’ shutout win was the first Sunday Night Baseball game all season to post an increase in ratings and viewership, snapping a streak of ten straight declines.
It ranks as the fourth-most watched game of the season, with the top four featuring the Yankees. The Yankees or Mets have played in six of the top eight. The lone exceptions a pair of Giants-Dodgers games on the season’s opening weekend.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 6.12]
