No one told MLB Network that baseball is scuffling on a national scale.

During the first two weeks of the 2014 MLB season, MLB Network set records for total day viewership. From March 31-April 6, MLB Network’s total day viewers averaged 130,000, the highest mark in network history. That high watermark lasted for all of a week, because the week of April 7-13 ended up improving on that mark by nearly 10% to 142,000 average total day viewers.

The increasing returns are promising for MLB Network, especially considering that the April 1st matchup between the Yankees and Astros actually outdrew the April 10th matchup between the Yankees and Red Sox (536,000 to 487,000). The drop in overall primetime viewers (276,000 during week one, 252,000 during week two) indicates that far more people were watching MLB Network content during the day, buoyed by eight live afternoon games during the week compared to just three during the first week.

It’s almost like baseball fans have a desire to watch as much mid-day baseball as they can, and that networks should try to give them as much as they want. If only they’d load up their schedules during Spring Training…

[Broadcasting and Cable]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.