MLB Rules Prime Time, Even With Regional Sports Network Viewership Flat Year-Over-Year

Viewership for the regional sports networks is flat at the All-Star break. But given the shedding of subscriptions for linear television, and the league’s large number of games and the majority of them winning primetime, Major League Baseball continues to be a hot property.

Year-over-year (YOY) numbers show that household (HH) impressions (IMP) are very close to the same as it was during the All-Star break last year. Overall, the league is down -0.38% or flat when rounded. Thirteen of the 29 are showing gains over 2021, while 15 are down. In an extraordinary sign of consistency, the Pittsburgh Pirates are seeing the exact same viewership numbers on AT&T
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Pittsburgh as last year. Numbers for the Toronto Blue Jays are not tracked by Nielsen due to being located in Canada.

Baseball continues to be highly sought after by advertisers given its large inventory of games, and near-daily rhythm that allows blanketing of products on commercials.

“Our ad revenue continues to grow for the last five years on double-digit CAGR (compound annual growth rate),” said Craig Sloan, COO of Playfly Sports, the company that sees Home Team Sports, a company that covers a portfolio of advertisers across many of the RSNs, as a subsidiary. “It’s double-digit increases year over year.”

As Sloan notes, baseball sees extremely consistent numbers based on fan loyalty. The household impression numbers bear this out as many seeing gains are lagging in the standings. Leading the way with the largest gain are the Texas Rangers. The Rangers see a +42% increase year-over-year. They are followed by the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners (+33%), St. Louis Cardinals (+30%), and Philadelphia Phillies (+25%).

Maybe the biggest factor in MLB’s popularity with advertisers is how it dominates primetime against broadcast and cable competition. Eleven of the 29 rank #1 in their designated market area (Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, Astros, Cardinals, Giants, Mariners, Guardians, Padres, Brewers, Royals), and five rank #2 (Braves, Tigers, Twins, Rays, Reds, and three rank #3 (Mets, Red Sox, Orioles).

With a scorching record in the standings, the New York Yankees on YES Network are seeing records being broken. Up +13% by HH impressions from this point last year, they have 22,597,400 by the All-Star break. In terms of total viewership, which accounts for people instead of households, through July 12th, 19 out of YES’ 70 regular-season games in 2022 have averaged above 400,000 total viewers in the New York designated market area (DMA). For all of last season, YES had 9 such regular season Yankees games (in 128 total games). Yankees games on YES Network are averaging 347,000 Total Viewers in the New York DMA, up 22% from the MLB All-Star Break last year. Projections have YES being on pace to have its 2nd-best season-to-date delivery in a decade, since 2012.

And it’s not just the Yankees that are seeing large numbers. With the New York DMA being the largest in the country, and the team also winning, the New York Mets are seeing total household impressions of 15,837,500 YOY, a +12% increase over last year at the All-Star break.

Not all clubs are performing well; some so understandably. With the Oakland A’s jettisoning key talent and tanking in the standings, they account for the largest drop YOY (-46%). And it’s not just the A’s in the Bay Area that are down significantly. The San Francisco Giants are down -35%. They are followed by a -30% drop by the Cleveland Guardians, and a -29% drop by the Cincinnati Reds.

Other notables…

• The 2021 World Series champion Atlanta Braves just missed the top 5 in biggest gainers YOY ​​by household impressions posting a +23% gain (7,200,300 HH IMP compared to 5,848,500 in 2021 at the All-Star break in 2021.
• One of the most exciting teams in baseball over the last few years may be dealing with some apathy. The San Diego Padres see a 21% decline in household impressions compared to this time last year (5,044,800 compared to 6,346,100 in 2021).
• The Los Angeles Dodgers are down -15% but still crush it due to the massive LA DMA size (HH IMP of 11,817,600).
• The Chicago Cubs moved to their own regional sports network right when the pandemic hit in 2020. The performance on the field in 2022 hasn’t helped it gain traction. Marquee Sports is down -25% by household impressions YOY ​​(6,368,900 compared to 8,475,000 at this point last year).
• The one team that could give the New York Yankees trouble ahead of the World Series are the Houston Astros and they continue to be strong on AT&T SportNet Southwest. The Astros are seeing a +8% increase over last year at the All-Star break by household impressions (10,551,600 compared to 9,783,500 YOY).
• The Boston Red Sox currently sit last in the AL East, and the woes have affected how their games are performing on NESN. While not down as much as the Cubs, the Red Sox are -12% by HH IMP year-over-year.
• There’s hope in Charm City. After years of bad showings in the standings, the Baltimore Orioles look promising, with a shot at earning a Wild Card spot. That’s translated into the number of homes watching games on MASN. The Orioles are up 6% compared to this point last year (2,422,000 household impressions compared to 2,291,100 at the All-Star break last year).
• If you compare HH impressions from the end of the 2021 season to the HH IMP of the first half of the 2022 season, the league is up nearly 2% with 16 of 29 up on the plus side.