The 2023 Major League Baseball season may be winding down but ESPN Sunday Night Baseball’s viewership is on an upward trajectory.
Last year, an average of 1.45 million viewers tuned in to Sunday Night Baseball, which was roughly the same as what we saw in 2022. This year, ESPN saw a six-percent growth in that viewership, per an ESPN press release.
SNB averaged 1,505,000 viewers across the 25 broadcasts, which ranks as its best season from a ratings perspective since 2019. They also say they averaged at least two million viewers four times on Sundays.
The 2024 Sunday Night Baseball season finished as the most-watched season in five years
Four games averaged over 2M viewers, with the top five games up 23% vs. 2023
More: https://t.co/mlbnhw4dmV pic.twitter.com/a2zNaiRmLF
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 24, 2024
Perhaps even more promising for ESPN, and baseball as a whole, is that Sunday Night Baseball did quite well within some key demographics that hint at future growth. SNB was up 26 percent with the 18-24 demographic.
In recent years, the MLB has really struggled to hit this demographic as national viewership numbers largely remain stagnant. So at the very least, this has to be somewhat encouraging to see.
It has previously been reported that ESPN was “leaning towards” opting out of their deal with the MLB after the 2025 season, which would otherwise go through the 2028 season. An opt-out may still be in ESPN’s plans but this year’s Sunday Night Baseball ratings may make the company think twice about moving on from the baseball business.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.