Live sports continues to dominate the television ratings opening weekend for MLB was no exception. According to MLB, FOX Sports Saturday baseball was up 14% and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball was up 17% over last year.
Not only are the linear broadcasts doing well, but the digital side is also off to a great start. The March 28 game between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros was MLB.TV’s most-watched game ever and the four days from Thursday through Sunday broke a record with 436 million minutes of viewing.
FOX has said its opening weekend two-game schedule, which saw most of the country viewing the Yankees-Astros game, delivered 2,527,000 viewers which was up 35% over last year’s FOX MLB regular season average.
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball debut which featured Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers going up against the St. Louis Cardinals, delivered an average viewership of 1,821,000 and peaked at 2,360,000.
