Little League ratings hit a three-year high on Sunday, with the full tournament up double-digits from last year.
Last Sunday’s Honolulu-South Korea Little League World Series title game had a 2.1 rating and 3.25 million viewers on ABC, up 31% in ratings and 25% in viewership from last year (Japan-Lufkin, Tex.: 1.6, 2.61M) and up 31% and 27% respectively from 2016 (Maine-Endwell, N.Y.-South Korea: 1.6, 2.56M).
Honolulu’s win was the highest rated and most-watched Little League World Series game since 2015.
Outside of the MLB All-Star Game, it was the highest rated and most-watched baseball telecast in 2018. The previous highs were a 2.0 and 3.23 million for regional MLB coverage on FOX in June. The College World Series topped out a 1.4 and 2.16 million and the Women’s College World Series a 0.95 and 1.52 million.
The last regular season MLB game with as large an audience was Cubs-Cardinals on Opening Night of last season (3.62M).
In other action, the Honolulu-Peachtree City (Ga.) U.S. Championship had a 1.7 (-11%) and 2.49 million (-13%) Saturday afternoon — marking the smallest audience for that event since at least 2012. Earlier in the day, the South Korea-Japan International Championship had a 1.2 (flat) and 1.69 million (-4%).
The complete Little League World Series averaged 1.02 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, up 13% from last year (900K).
Houston and San Antonio led all markets for the full tournament, each averaging a 1.3 rating. Nashville ranked second (1.2) with Louisville, Birmingham, San Diego and Dayton, Ohio, rounding out the top five (1.1 each).
Largest Baseball Audiences of 2018
[Numbers from ESPN PR, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 8.30]
