Los Angeles turned in its highest MLB ratings on FOX and ESPN in more than a decade.
It was just the second MLB telecast on FOX this season to decline (seven windows) and the first to do so during the World Cup.
On Sunday, the same matchup delivered a 0.9 and 1.4 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — flat in ratings and down 1% in viewership from last year (Tigers-Indians: 0.9, 1.41M) and down a tick and 12% respectively from 2016 (D’Backs-Giants: 1.0, 1.6M).
It was the 12th of 15 Sunday night windows to decline this season.
Though down nationally, both telecasts hit multi-year highs in Los Angeles. The Saturday window scored a 6.0 rating, the market’s highest for a regular season game on FOX since 2004. The Sunday game had a 5.7, the market’s highest on record for a regular season game on ESPN (dates back to 1998).
In other action, Braves-Brewers drew a 0.29 and 461,000 viewers on FS1 Saturday. There was no comparable window last year. The same matchup had 275,000 on TBS Sunday, down a third from the network’s debut last year (Pirates-Cubs: 409K) and down 9% from 2016 (Nationals-Mets: 302K).
Shifting to the workweek, ESPN drew 458,000 for Nationals-Pirates on Monday, FS1 scored 346,000 for Royals-Twins on Tuesday, and ESPN had 515,000 for Rangers-Red Sox on Wednesday. The comparable week last year coincided with the MLB All-Star break.
[Numbers from ShowBuzz Daily 7.10]
