Nielsen Report Shows MLB Growing Popularity In Foreign Countries

Nielsen released its annual MLB report, which found the league has more than 170 million fans in the U.S. and 10 million in Canada. Among North American pro leagues, MLB had the highest average percentage of fans who attended a game in '18, and the average MLB team fan base is more than 2.5 million people. MLB also is gaining fans around the world, especially in Mexico and Japan. Interest in those countries’ age 16-69 populations was 42% and 24%, respectively, up from 39% and 22% in '17. Interest in the U.K. for MLB has been steady for the past two years at 8%, and London will host Europe’s first ever MLB games on June 29-30 with two Yankees-Red Sox matchups. In '18, sponsors received a cumulative $2.4B media value from the televised MLB game broadcasts. Banking, insurance, automotive and financial services topped all categories based on the value of exposure received. Brands sponsoring MLB teams experienced 3-13% of additional media value from their social media content (Nielsen).

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