ESPN Seeing Rise In MLB Game Viewership At Midpoint Of '14 Regular Season

Viewership for ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” and the net's complete package of MLB games was up through the All-Star break, while Fox and MLB Network are down during the same period. “SNB” is building on a 6% viewership increase seen last season. ESPN’s Sunday night games (15 telecasts) are averaging 1.98 million viewers, up from 1.83 million viewers at the same point last season. “SNB” had the benefit of two Red Sox-Yankees games before the break, compared to only one at the same point last season. The audience for that top-drawing telecast also is up from last year. ESPN’s complete package of games, which includes Monday and Wednesday night telecasts, is averaging 1.24 million viewers (42 telecasts), up from 1.12 million viewers. Meanwhile, Fox primetime regionalized telecasts continue to be the biggest draw among MLB TV packages, averaging 2.14 million viewers. However, that figure is down from 2.95 million viewers at the same point last year. Fox in the first year of a new TV deal moved many MLB games to FS1. The net has averaged 430,000 viewers for 22 telecasts, which have been a mix of Saturday afternoon and Saturday night telecasts. Fox Sports Senior VP/Programming & Research Mike Mulvihill said of the audience for the first season of MLB games on FS1, "It’s right on our pre-season expectation and I’m satisfied with where we are. Since we launched MLB we have been beating ESPN2 and NBCSN handily on Saturdays and I take that as a real positive." Mulvihill: "I like (FS1's) schedule over the next six weeks. We’ve got a nice mix of contending teams, including four Yankee games in three weeks." Looking at MLB Network, the league-owned channel has seen a slight dip for its game coverage. The cable net is averaging 230,000 viewers for all games, down from 235,000 viewers. However, the net is seeing a 20% bump for games in primetime (298,500 viewers vs. 248,000 viewers). TBS only had two telecasts before the All-Star break for its Sunday afternoon games. Also see a report on the best-performing and worst-performing MLB RSNs through the All-Star break.