Menu
Media

Fox Sees First Year-Over-Year Overnight Ratings Increase For MLB ASG Since '08

Fox earned an 8.1 overnight Nielsen rating for last night’s MLB All-Star Game, which saw the NL rout the AL 8-0. That figure is up 2.5% from a 7.9 overnight last year, which was an all-time low, and marks game’s first year-over-year increase since ’08. The telecast delivered Fox a win in primetime among all nets and marked the net’s best night since the “American Idol” finale in May. The beginning of the game delivered a 7.9 rating, which was the best first-pitch tune-in for an All-Star Game since President Obama appeared before the '09 game. The telecast peaked at a 9.0 rating during the 10:00-10:15pm ET window when Mets P R.A. Dicket came in to pitch for the NL. St. Louis topped all markets last night with a 20.5 local rating, while K.C. ranked second with an 18.7. Rounding out the top five markets were Detroit (16.1), Cincinnati (12.3) and Dallas-Ft. Worth (11.6). Detroit saw the biggest year-over-year gains among all markets (up 50%), followed by DC (36%), L.A. (27%) and Dallas-Ft. Worth (25%) (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes Fox' coverage was "low-key from the start." The net added "Diamond Cams," tiny cameras "stuck in the field meant to shoot upwards, for the first time in the All-Star Game since 2006, but didn't use them in the game's early going." Fox also "didn't go overboard hyping" new reporter Erin Andrews during her debut with the net last night (USA TODAY, 7/11).

ALL-STAR GAME OVERNIGHT RATINGS TREND ON FOX
YEAR
OVERNIGHT
SITE
'12
8.1
Kauffman Stadium
'11
7.9
Chase Field
'10
9.1
Angel Stadium
'09
10.4
Busch Stadium
'08
11.0
Yankee Stadium
'07
10.0
AT&T Park
'06
10.6
PNC Park
'05
9.8
Comerica Park
'04
10.3
Minute Maid Field
'03
11.1
U.S. Cellular Field
'02
11.4
Miller Park
'01
12.6
Safeco Field
    
    

TESTING THE WATERS: MLB last night conducted its first-ever experiment with players posting on Twitter and Facebook during the All-Star Game in K.C., its first such effort since creating rules prohibiting such activity during regular season and postseason games. The league, aided by its creative services department, set up a room with computer stations near the clubhouses, and modeled it in large part after the MLB Fan Cave in N.Y. Players participating included Yankees SS Derek Jeter, Dodgers CF Matt Kemp, Nationals SS Ian Desmond and P Stephen Strasburg, Blue Jays RF Jose Bautista, Rangers P Joe Nathan, Rays P David Price, and Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval. The game generated more than 290,000 social media comments in the first inning alone, more than the entire '11 game in Phoenix. Monday night's Home Run Derby, meanwhile, generated a final tally of 804,337 social media comments, a 158% increase from the '11 event in Phoenix (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

SWINGING FOR THE FENCES: ESPN finished with a 4.1 U.S. rating and 6.882 million viewers for the Home Run Derby on Monday night, up 2.5% and 2.9%, respectively, from a 4.0 rating and 6.686 milion viewers last year. The increase comes after overnight ratings had the event down from last year. The viewership is also the best for the event since '09 (Karp).

MLB HOME RUN DERBY AUDIENCE TREND ON ESPN
YEAR
U.S. RATING
VIEWERS (000)
'12
4.1
6,882
'11
4.0
6,686
'10
4.0
6,418
'09
5.1
8,250
'08
5.5
9,116
'07
4.3
6,778
'06
4.4
6,787
'05
4.1
6,330
'04
4.7
7,713
'03
4.3
n/a

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/07/11/Media/ASG-Ratings.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/07/11/Media/ASG-Ratings.aspx

CLOSE