Major League Baseball has had a very strong season from a viewership perspective thus far, and that has translated to its league-owned cable network.
According to league data published by Maury Brown in Forbes, MLB Network averaged 233,000 viewers across its 40 live out-of-market game broadcasts in the month of June. It was the most-watched month for the network since June 2019.
Per Brown’s report, MLB Network saw its best viewership figures in the 18-34 demographic since 2018, and primetime viewership posted its best month since August 2017, averaging 274,000 viewers.
Two games in particular were standouts for the network. The June 11 game between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals averaged 551,000 viewers, marking the 12th most-watched game in MLB Network history. Then, a June 16 game between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, in which Shohei Ohtani made his return to the pitcher’s mound, averaged 411,000 viewers, peaking at over 600,000.
“We view ourselves as the content home of baseball, where fans are getting a live game or one of our signature shows breaking everything down whenever they watch,” MLB Network President Bill Morningstar told Forbes. “The action has just been incredible, so for fans, especially younger fans, to be consuming us at levels we haven’t seen in quite some time, it’s been great to see.”
The news comes on the heels of ESPN posting strong Sunday Night Baseball numbers of its own.
MLB Network will be all-in Friday for July 4th. The network will air four out-of-market games starting with a Red Sox-Nationals game at 11 a.m. ET and going all the way through Royals-Diamondbacks at 9:30 p.m. ET.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.