Getty Images
- 4m viewers watched Yankees beat World Series champions on ESPN
- Audience was up 232% on 2019 opening night broadcast
- WNBA opener between Sparks and Mercury scored 540k average audience for ABC
ESPN’s coverage of the New York Yankees’ 4-1 win over defending World Series champions the Washington Nationals on 23rd July generated a record average audience for a Major League Baseball (MLB) opening night broadcast.
According to Nielsen, four million viewers tuned in to the US broadcast network to watch the fixture, making it the most-watched regular season MLB game on any network since 2011.
The game delivered an 8.4 rating in Washington DC, which is the highest-rated regular season game ever on ESPN in that market.
The overall viewership figure was up eight per cent on the previous opening night record, which was set in 2017 when 3.7 million viewers watched ESPN’s coverage of a game between the St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.
It also represented a whopping 232 per cent increase on last year’s opening night broadcast between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, which drew 1.2 million viewers.
Pay-TV network BeIN Sports has not announced its MLB viewership figures for France or across the 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) where it shows coverage, but it has retained the rights in those markets with new deals covering the truncated 2020 season and 2021 campaign.
Back in the US, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) also enjoyed strong ratings for its closed-door start to the 2020 season on 25th July.
The opening day game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury was seen by an average audience of 540,000 on commercial broadcast network ABC, marking a 20 per cent increase on last year and becoming the league’s most-watched opener since 2012.
Prior to that, the Seattle Storm’s 87-71 win over New York Liberty, which included the debut of number one draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, averaged 419,000 viewers on ESPN.
In other US ratings news, the Associated Press reported that prior to Sunday’s final round of fixtures, NBC was averaging 373,000 viewers for its Premier League coverage since the restart, which was down 17 per cent on figures before the suspension of English soccer’s top flight.
Those audience numbers are likely to have been affected by the Premier League’s schedule change, which saw more games played on weekdays than under its plan prior to the onset of Covid-19.
ESPN’s coverage of the New York Yankees’ 4-1 win over defending World Series champions the Washington Nationals on 23rd July generated a record average audience for a Major League Baseball (MLB) opening night broadcast.
According to Nielsen, four million viewers tuned in to the US broadcast network to watch the fixture, making it the most-watched regular season MLB game on any network since 2011.
The game delivered an 8.4 rating in Washington DC, which is the highest-rated regular season game ever on ESPN in that market.
The overall viewership figure was up eight per cent on the previous opening night record, which was set in 2017 when 3.7 million viewers watched ESPN’s coverage of a game between the St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.
It also represented a whopping 232 per cent increase on last year’s opening night broadcast between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners, which drew 1.2 million viewers.
Whilst Pay-TV network BeIN Sports has not announced its MLB viewership figures for France or across the 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) where it has broadcast rights, it has retained the contracts with new deals covering the truncated 2020 season and 2021 campaign.
Back in the US, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) also enjoyed strong ratings for its closed-door start to the 2020 season on 25th July.
The opening day game between the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury was seen by an average audience of 540,000 on commercial broadcast network ABC, marking a 20 per cent increase on last year and becoming the league’s most-watched opener since 2012.
Prior to that, the Seattle Storm’s 87-71 win over New York Liberty, which included the debut of number one draft pick Sabrina Ionescu, averaged 419,000 viewers on ESPN.
In other US ratings news, the Associated Press reported that prior to Sunday’s final round of fixtures, NBC was averaging 373,000 viewers for its Premier League coverage since the restart, which was down 17 per cent on figures before the suspension of English soccer’s top flight.
Those audience numbers are likely to have been affected by the Premier League’s schedule change, which saw more games played on weekdays than under its plan prior to the onset of Covid-19.
