Ratings Roundup: Fox’s All-Star Game Up Slightly Over 2012; ESPN’s HR Derby Flat in Ratings

Fox scored solid numbers for its MLB All-Star Game telecast on Tuesday night, marking the network’s highest-rated and most-watched broadcast since the American Idol finale in May. The game averaged a 6.9/12 fast national household rating/share, with 11 million viewers. The telecast posted a 1% increase over last year’s 6.8/12 rating and was up 1% on average audience (10.9 million viewers).

The game rating peaked at 7.6/13 at 10:45 PM ET, the approximate start of the bottom of the 8th inning when Mariano Rivera enterted the game to pitch in his final All-Star outing. Host city New York drew a strong 11.3 rating, up +16% from 2012. Detroit led all markets with a 20.3 rating, its highest rating for an All-Star Game since 2005 and a +26% increase from last year…

…The night before, the Home Run Derby on ESPN earned a 4.1 U.S. rating and 6.7 million viewers, flat in ratings and down 3% in viewership from last year (4.1, 6.9M), but up 3% and down 1%, respectively, compared to 2011 (4.0, 6.7M). Monday’s telecast ranks as the least-viewed Home Run Derby since 2010 (6.4M). (SportsMedia Watch)…

…Meanwhile, ESPN Deportes’ coverage of Derby delivered the second most-watched, highest-rated on the network, earninga 1.0 Hispanic household coverage rating with an audience of 76,600 viewers (trailing the 2009 Home Run Derby).

Since the start of the season, ESPN Deportes’ Sunday Night Baseball telecasts are averaging a 0.6 Hispanic household coverage rating with an audience of 50,000 Hispanic viewers; up 20% and 34% from last year…

…The ESPY Awards drew nearly 2.3 million viewers on ESPN Wednesday night, down 6% from last year (2.4M), but up 14% from 2011 (2.0M). This marks the fourth-least viewed ESPY Awards telecast since at least 1996. (SportsMediaWatch)…

…LA station KCAL 9 drew the largest audience for a regular season Los Angeles Dodgers game on any local broadcast or cable outlet since August 2007 with its broadcast of the Dodgers’ 6-1 victory at Arizona on July 9. The station drew an average of 470,000 viewers with its 6:30-9:45 p.m. broadcast making it the most-watched station in Los Angeles during the game broadcast. In addition, Tuesday’s game attracted a 2.7 rating and 10 share in the key adults 25-54 demographic – the highest rating in this demo for a Dodger game on KCAL since the station became the team’s broadcast partner at the start of the 2006 season.
(Cynopsis Sports).