In your latest example of “baseball is dying and no one cares about it at all”, MLB Network broke viewership records for the Opening Day of the 2015 season.
On Opening Day last Monday, MLB Network’s 17 hours of live coverage were up 17% from Opening Day 2014. The day averaged 84,000 viewers, and peaked at 222,000 viewers from 7 to 7:30 PM during MLB Tonight. Keep in mind that all of the live game coverage on Opening Day was on ESPN and ESPN2 – MLB Network didn’t have the benefit of airing a full game live. The evening hours also went up against the NCAA Championship Game between Duke and Wisconsin, which drew an absurd 28.3 million viewers.
MLB Network also used last Friday’s marathon Yankees-Red Sox game to post record viewership numbers for the day. That game, which didn’t have the benefit of being shown in either the New York or Boston markets, averaged 460,000 viewers and peaked at 597,000 viewers. The game pushed MLB Network to an average of 196,000 viewers for the day, a record for a day during the regular season.
So to recap, here’s what’s been going on with MLB through the first week and a half of the season.
-A record-breaking Opening Day on MLB Network.
-A record regular season day on MLB Network.
–A record number of streams on MLB.tv and MLB At Bat on Opening Day.
-ESPN’s best Opening Night rating since 2010.
–Massive gains for ESPN’s Opening Day coverage.
RIP Major League Baseball. It was a good run.
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