MLB All-Star Game ratings bounce back from 2023 record-low

The ratings trend for most all-star games has been downward in recent years. But Fox’s coverage of the 2024 MLB All-Star Game actually saw a significant year-over-year audience rise, from an average of 7.091 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, and streaming in 2023 to 7.6 million across those same platforms this year. On Fox alone, it saw a six percent jump:

FOX Sports’ 25th presentation of the #MLBAllStarGame knocked it out of the park with 7.6 million viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming services. 🎆

The most-watched All-Star event in sports is up +6% over last year on FOX. pic.twitter.com/Ly46BahyXc

— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) July 17, 2024

Of course, last year’s numbers (7.006 million for the English-language coverage on Fox and streaming, 7.091 million with the Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes factored in) were an all-time low. And they came on the heels of a previous low of 7.634 million across platforms in 2022, and this still falls short of that. But it is notable to see the reverse of the recent trend here. (The NBA did see a 14 percent bounce-back this year as well, but the NFL’s Pro Bowl challenge and the NHL’s ASG both dropped.)

A ratings rebound definitely wasn’t necessary for Fox to keep airing the All-Star Game. As they note, this is the most-watched ASG in sports, and the ratings here are very good by the standards of TV overall these days (as mentioned in their tweet, this represents Fox’s best telecast numbers of any kind since their broadcast of the NFL’s NFC Championship Game in January). Here’s what AA’s Joe Lucia wrote on that front last year:

Maybe it’s time to frame All-Star Game viewership differently. Instead of pointing to viewership from many moons ago, when an audience of ten million would have been considered unimaginably low, we should remember how poor audiences for non-sports programming are. While the All-Star Game barely cracked seven million viewers on Fox, only one other show on broadcast television (America’s Got Talent on NBC) even cleared four million.

The MLB All-Star Game isn’t holding up to the classic games, but it’s doing fine in today’s media landscape. “Record-low” isn’t an inaccurate description, but it says more about media consumption today than it says about the All-Star Game itself.

All of that still holds up, and the numbers this year certainly aren’t a rebound to the All-Star Game’s best past performances. But it is notable to see the event not only holding steady, but actually gaining some viewership. And that bodes well for the ASG’s future.

[Fox Sports PR on X/Twitter]