The Miami Marlins played the Phillies in Philadelphia July 26 but then saw their schedule postponed as Marlins team members tested positive for the coronavirus.
Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty ImagesThe start of the Major League Baseball season, which came more than 100 days later than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic, drew significantly higher TV ratings than it did last year, a boon for sports networks that have had very little live content to run for months.
Games that aired on national TV during the opening weekend—July 23 to 26—had more than twice as many viewers as a year ago, according to data from the MLB Network. Walt Disney Co. ’s ESPN said the first 12 games it aired through late Thursday averaged 1.16 million viewers, up 34% from last year. Fox Corp. FOX -0.43% ’s Fox Sports also saw a double-digit rise in ratings.
ESPN said the league’s season opener on July 23 between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals—which was played in an empty stadium, with infectious-diseases expert Anthony Fauci throwing a much-discussed opening pitch—had four million viewers, making it the most-watched regular-season game since 2011 on any network.
“Whatever challenges were presented by the absence of fans was very much outweighed by the optimism,” said Michael Mulvihill, head of strategy and analytics at Fox Sports. “There was the expectation of a great, pent-up appetite for baseball.”
One reason baseball games drew such strong ratings is that they had very little competition from other major U.S. sports leagues, Mr. Mulvihill said. Traditionally the baseball season begins when the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League are in the final stretch of the regular season ahead of the playoffs. Baseball also attracted younger viewers than usual as a result, Mr. Mulvihill said. The NBA restarted its season on July 30 and the NHL on Aug. 1.
Fan enthusiasm comes against the backdrop of the continued spread of the virus among baseball players, which threatens the MLB season.
Nearly two-thirds of the Miami Marlins’ roster has tested positive, a surge that has already resulted in 14 postponed games involving six East Coast teams.
“Yes, games are delayed, but the network is expected to perform on par with the rest of the [regional sports networks] once they resume,” said a spokesman for Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns the network broadcasting Marlins games as well as most of the nation’s regional sports networks.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you watching more baseball than in the previous years? If so, why? Join the conversation below.
The Philadelphia Phillies, who played the Marlins last weekend, have reported no positive cases except for a coach and clubhouse attendant. The Phillies haven’t taken the field since Sunday as a precautionary measure. On Saturday, the St. Louis Cardinals organization reported four new positive coronavirus tests, people familiar with the matter said.
On Friday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated on a call with Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark that the season was in danger of collapsing if the sport couldn’t control the virus.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to finish the season,” said a person close to the networks.
Which Streaming Services Are Right for You? Take the WSJ Quiz.
Significant advertising revenue is on the line. The 2019 regular season attracted $196.3 million in advertising revenue across networks, cable and locally aired games, according to Kantar, a research firm. This season, the league had to heavily truncate its schedule due to the late start: Teams are expected to play only 60 games instead of the usual 162.
Regional sports networks, which broadcast all non-nationally televised games of specific teams, have been starved of advertising revenue as baseball and other sports have been paused.
“It was profound for us not to have live games,” said Craig Sloan, executive vice president of Home Team Sports, an ad-sales firm that represents regional sports networks and is owned by Fox. “But it was a flip of the switch to turn on the season, and we had tremendous demand.”
Fox Sports parent Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
Regional sports networks saw a 31% increase in viewership over the MLB opening weekend compared with the previous season, according to Nielsen. Through July 29, ratings across 25 markets were up 18%.
Some regional markets, such as Houston, Detroit and Minnesota have seen viewership rise close to 50% in the first week of baseball, according to Nielsen, while ratings for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros nearly doubled.
SportsNet LA, the Dodgers network owned by Charter Communications Inc., said its first three games were the network’s top three highest-ever rated games. In May, SportsNet LA’s audience grew when AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV started carrying the network after several years of not being able to reach an agreement.
Michael McCarthy, the general manager of Sinclair’s brand-new Marquee Sports Network, which airs Chicago Cubs games, joked that the network’s first game “was an all-time Marquee Sports Network high, but it was also an all-time low.”
Despite the Covid-19 outbreak among Marlins players, Fox Sports’ Mr. Mulvihill said he doesn’t expect a change in overall viewership.
“Baseball viewing is so driven by local interest, and I don’t believe a fan in Cleveland or Cincinnati is more motivated to watch their team because of an outbreak in Miami,” he said.
Write to Lillian Rizzo at Lillian.Rizzo@wsj.com
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"TV" - Google News
August 02, 2020 at 08:00PM
https://ift.tt/3jZuUHb
Baseball Draws Strong TV Ratings in Opening Week Amid Uncertainty Over Season - The Wall Street Journal
"TV" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2T73uUP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Baseball Draws Strong TV Ratings in Opening Week Amid Uncertainty Over Season - The Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment