Fox finished with 10.914 million viewers for the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night, just above the event’s record-low audience of 10.897 million viewers in ’12. The ’15 ASG viewership is down 4% from 11.34 million viewers last year. This year’s ASG earned a 6.6 fast-national rating, the lowest on record for the event (figures date back to ’67). The previous low was a 6.8 rating in ’12. While the overall audience was down from ’14, Fox did see gains among young male viewers, including the 12-17 demo (+19%) and 18-34 demo (+3%). Tuesday night’s game opened with an audience of 9.9 million viewers at 8:24pm ET before peaking at 12.1 million viewers from 9:45-10:00pm. The last hour of the broadcast averaged 9.2 million viewers. MLB’s audience for the ASG topped that of its counterparts from the NFL, NBA and NHL this year, but each of those other leagues has its ASG on cable. Looking at the average audience between Fox' ASG telecast and Monday's Home Run Derby on ESPN, MLB averaged 9.28 million viewers for its two events, up 8% from 8.56 million viewers last year. Meanwhile, the most-tweeted moment from the ASG on Tuesday night was Angels CF Mike Trout's leadoff home run in the first inning (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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MLB ALL-STAR GAME AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX
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YEAR
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LOCATION
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RATING
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VIEWERS (000)
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|
'15
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Cincinnati
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6.6
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10,914
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|
'14
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Minneapolis
|
7.0
|
11,338
|
|
'13
|
N.Y.
|
6.9
|
10,956
|
|
'12
|
K.C.
|
6.8
|
10,897
|
|
'11
|
Phoenix
|
6.9
|
10,973
|
|
'10
|
Anaheim
|
7.5
|
12,118
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|
'09
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St. Louis
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8.9
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14,593
|
|
'08
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N.Y.
|
8.6
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13,374
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|
'07
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S.F.
|
8.4
|
12,530
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|
'06
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Pittsburgh
|
9.3
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14,424
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| |
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|
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EASY ON THE RHETORIC: AD AGE's Anthony Crupi wrote for "all the hay that will be made about how the All-Star Game ratings herald the Death of Baseball, the ratings slide more or less has been a constant" since '01, when Fox "bought exclusive rights to the broadcast." Over the last 15 years, "only four games have enjoyed year-over-year growth; if anything the dwindling deliveries are a reflection of how TV as a whole is shrinking." Meanwhile, the '15 ASG "actually drew a slightly younger crowd" than last year. The median age for the ASG on Tuesday night "was 53 years, down a tick" from 54 last year. The "last time the game showed a sequential aging down" was in '09 (
ADAGE.com, 7/15).
