Yankees RF Aaron Judge’s ultimately successful chase for the AL home run record was a “viewership windfall” for the YES Network, according to Bill Shea of THE ATHLETIC. Judge's chase helped the network average 368,000 viewers in N.Y. over 126 games this season. That is its “best audience average since 2011,” and a 27% increase over last season’s 290,000 viewer average for 128 games. When Judge finally broke Roger Maris’ record, the Oct. 4 primetime broadcast averaged 636,000 viewers and peaked at 933,000 in N.Y. The network saw Yankees games average at least 400,000 viewers 45 times this season compared to just nine in 2021. The network said that 11 games “topped a half-million viewers and six broke 600,000.” Also, Yankees games on YES in primetime averaged 406,000 viewers to “lead everything in the market during the season.” Yankees games on YES “led all of baseball in viewership” thanks to airing on an average of 219,000 households in the local market. The team’s 2.9 rating ranked ninth among domestic MLB clubs with the Cardinals at the top with a 7.2 rating (THE ATHLETIC, 10/11).
