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In A Slump: MLB Game Viewership On ESPN Could Be Its Lowest Over Last Decade

Heading into the last weekend of the regular season and any possible tie-breaker games on Monday, ESPN is averaging around 1.0 million viewers for its MLB game coverage. That would likely mark the lowest figure for the network in at least the last decade. ESPN averaged 1.02 million viewers in '12, but there remains a chance ESPN could finish above that mark. The net ran into some headwinds this season, including the Rio Games and heightened election coverage taking away some adult male viewers. The net’s “Sunday Night Baseball” package alone averaged 1.6 million viewers, which would mark the window’s lowest average in at least a decade. It was also the third straight year of declines for “SNB.” There is no "SNB" telecast during the last weekend of the season. While game coverage was down this year, ESPN did see a gain for its “Baseball Tonight” studio programming, which this season went to fewer shows and shows being used more on game nights and in high-interest windows. “Baseball Tonight” is averaging 275,000 viewers to date this season, up 28% from 215,000 last year. Meanwhile, WatchESPN has seen 3.62 million unique viewers for MLB game coverage this season. “SNB” itself saw double-digit percentage gains on WatchESPN among average minute impressions, unique viewers, total minutes and minutes per viewer.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

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On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

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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.

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