Ratings Roundup: Fox’s MLB All-Star Game Viewership Up 7%; ESPN’s HR Derby Is Most Watched Since 2008

Ratings roundup is a rundown of ratings news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition, the MLB All-Star Game was up 7% across Fox, Fox Deportes, and Fox Sports Go; ESPN earned the best HR Derby audience since 2008 and its largest Hispanic audience ever; Roger Federer’s historic Wimbledon title scored a 6% Total Live Audience increase over last year for ESPN; Univision averaged 1.2M viewers for the Gold Cup Group Stage; ESPN netted its best NBA Summer League audience ever; YES Network’s Yankees ratings are up big time; and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was up on Fox Business Network. 

MLB All-Star Game Combined Viewership Up +7% Over Last Year
Fox Sports’ coverage of the MLB All-Star Game delivered a combined 9.442 million viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports GO, up +7% vs. last year’s combined audience of 8.829 million viewers. FOX’s broadcast scored a 5.5/11 fast-national household rating/share, with an average audience of 9.280 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. Tuesday night’s fast-national viewership is up +7% over last year (vs. 8.707 million viewers) and is the biggest increase for an All-Star Game since 2008. FOX’s total audience figure of 23 million viewers surpassed last year’s figure by +6% (vs. 21.7 million viewers).

The telecast is FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched event since the Daytona 500 in February and its best Tuesday night since Game 6 of the 2016 World Series in November. FOX enjoyed year-over-year ratings increases across all major demographics according to Nielsen Media Research, with Men 18-49 up +7% (3.1 vs. 2.9), Men 25-54 up +3% (3.7 vs. 3.6), Adults 18-49 up +5% (2.3 vs. 2.2), and Adults 25-54 up +4% (2.8 vs. 2.7). Initial tune-in for the game began at a 4.8/10 household rating/share (7.997 million viewers) from 8:16 PM ET – 8:30 PM ET and peaked at a 5.9/11 (10.024 million) from 10:00 – 10:15 PM ET.

FOX Deportes averaged 114,000 total viewers, up +18% over last year (vs. 97,000 viewers) and is the second most-watched MLB All-Star Game in the network’s history.

FOX Sports GO, the live streaming platform that showcases all of FOX Sports’ live events and studio programming, delivered an average-minute audience of 49,441, nearly doubling last year’s average-minute audience of 25,057.

On FOX and FS1, 2017 MLB regular-season ratings are up a combined +4%, and across FOX Regional Sports Networks, MLB ratings are up +1% so far this season, year-over-year.

ESPN’s Home Run Derby Most-Watched Since 2008
ESPN’s 2017 T-Mobile Home Run Derby telecast was the most-watched since 2008 and the second-most watched since 1999, according to Fast Nationals from Nielsen. ESPN generated an average total live audience of 8,689,000 viewers, up 55% from last year. The total live audience includesESPN, ESPN2’s Spanish-language simulcast, ESPN Deportes and English and Spanish streaming viewers. The Derby coverage propelled the network to win the night across all of television, including broadcast and cable. The Derby also marked the fifth-largest total live audience for any Major League Baseball event on ESPN and the fourth-largest total live audience for the event as far as Derby records go back (1998). It was also the most-streamed ESPN MLB event ever, drawing an average minute audience of 209,900 viewers. Locally, it was the highest-rated Derby in both the New York and Los Angeles markets as far as Derby records go back (1998).

ESPN Grows Hispanic Audience for HR Derby
ESPN’s English and Spanish-language telecast of the 2017 Home Run Derby achieved the largest Hispanic audience for the event ever.  Telecast averaged 1.09 million Hispanic viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 (Spanish-language simulcast) and ESPN Deportes combined.  Telecast of the 2017 T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN, ESPN2 (Spanish-language simulcast) and ESPN Deportes helped ESPN end the night as the most-watched English and Spanish-language sports cable network among Hispanics P2+. ESPN’s English-language coverage of the 2017 T-Mobile Home Run Derby earned a 3.61 Hispanic household rating , the highest Hispanic audience  for the event on ESPN since 2009. The 2017 T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes was the most-watched Major League Baseball event among Hispanics, dating back to 1998. On ESPN Deportes, the 2017 T-Mobile Home Run Derby delivered a 0.56 % Hispanic Household rating, up 33% from 2016

Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship Total Live Audience Up 6%
The total live audience for ESPN’s coverage of the 2 hour, 15-minute Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship on Sunday, July 16, was up 6% from last year (from 2,224,700 to 2,362,400). The TV portion of the audience was also up 6%, from 2,194,000 to 2,316,000 (P2+); both years earned a 1.5 rating, according to Nielsen. Streaming had the highest increase of 51%, from 30,700 in 2016 to 46,400.

Univision Averages 1.2M viewers for Gold Cup Group Stage
With the CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage now complete (15 matches), Univision’s networks averaged 1.2 million Total Viewers 2+ and 631,000 Adults 18-49. Broadcast of the 14th edition CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage on the networks of Univision reached 19.9 million Total Viewers 2+ and 9.1 million Adults 18-49. Gold Cup on Univision Deportes has out-delivered the Spanish-language broadcast of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup by +19% with Total Viewers 2+ and +21% with Adults 18-49.

Presentation of the Group Stage matches positioned UDN as the No. 2 sports network in primetime for July to-date among Total Viewers 2+ and Adults 18-49. Additionally, Univision Deportes Network (UDN) ended the first half of 2017 as the No. 4 sports network in primetime among Adults 18-49, ahead of FS1, NFL Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV.

Locally, during the first round of Copa Oro 2017, all three Mexico matches made Univision stations No. 1 in the time-period among: Total Viewers 2+ in Los Angeles and Houston; Adults 18-49 in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Phoenix; Adults 18-34 in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Sacramento.

Across digital platforms, live stream video views averaged 146,000 for the three Mexico Group Stage games. Additionally, the Mexican National Team averaged 135,000 Total Interactions per match on both Twitter and Facebook. On MNT match days, Gold Cup ranked within the top three of Sporting Events on Nielsen Social Content Ratings.

ESPN Nets Best NBA Summer League Audience Ever
The average audience for ESPN’s five MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2017 telecasts was up 112% from last year, according to Nielsen. ESPN’s five games averaged 783,000 viewers (P2+), up from 369,000 viewers for ESPN’s three games in 2016. Overall, ESPN and ESPN2 combined to televise 25 NBA Summer League games, which averaged 437,000 viewers (P2+), up 51 percent from 290,000 viewers across 23 games in 2016. ESPN’s most-watched NBA Summer League was led by the July 8 contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, which averaged 1,106,000 viewers (P2+), and an additional average minute streaming audience of 57,000 viewers. ESPN and ESPN2 combined to televise the seven most-watched NBA Summer League games ever, topped by 1.11 million viewers for Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers on July 8.

YES’ First-Half Yankees Ratings Up 57% Year-over-Year
Average total viewership for the YES Network’s New York Yankees game telecasts through the first half of the 2017 season was up 57% year-over-year in the New York DMA.  This marks YES’ highest first-half viewership for Yankees telecasts in five years. The YES Network has reached more than 5.5 million unduplicated viewers in the country’s #1 market so far in 2017, which translates to more than 39% of all TV Households in the New York DMA. On the digital side, YES’ Aaron Judge-related videos have garnered more than 6 million views across YES’ various digital platforms (YESNetwork.com, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) over the past three months.

YES enjoyed its greatest first-half viewership in five years (343,000 average Total Viewers in 2017, vs. 370,000 in 2012). Yankees on YES viewership is up 57% year-over-year (343,000 vs. 219,000). 18 of YES’ Yankees telecasts this season have achieved a 4.0 average TV Household rating or better, vs. 0 in all of last season, and 10 in all of 2015. Key demos are at their highest in five years, since the 2012 season. Viewership among Persons 18-49 have grown by 73% year-over-year, Persons 25-54 by 57%, Males 18-49 by 71%, and Males 25-54 by 49%. Yankees Batting Practice Today is off to its best start ever; 2017 viewership has grown by 153% year-over-year. YES’ Yankees pre-game show is off to its best start since 2010; 2017 viewership has increased by 106% year-over-year. YES’ Yankees post-game show is enjoying its best start since 2012; 2017 viewership is up by 61% year-over-year

YES’ Primetime Yankees telecasts are #1 among Males vs. regularly scheduled Primetime broadcast programs on nights when YES televises Yankees games. YES’ Primetime Yankees telecasts dominate all other cable networks’ Primetime schedules on nights when YES televises Yankees games

More than 5.5 million unduplicated viewers in the New York DMA have watched the YES Network so far through the first half of season, which translates to more than 39% of all TV Households in the New York DMA. YES was the most-watched regional sports network in the country in Total Day delivery for the first half of the 2017 broadcast year. The Michael Kay Show has attracted its biggest audience since YES started live simulcasts of radio shows in 2002; since the start of the 2017 MLB season, the show’s viewership has grown by 92% year-over-year

On the digital side, YES averaged 11.6 million digital video views per month across all of its digital platforms for the first three months of the MLB season. YES’ Aaron Judge-related videos have garnered more than 6 million video views across YES’ various digital platforms over the past three months. YES has 740,000 followers across all social media platforms. YES has shot 46 Facebook Live videos over the past three months

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Up on Fox Business Network
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from NASCAR champion Tony Stewart’s dirt track at Eldora Speedway aired on FOX Business Network on Wednesday night, and the 9:30-11:45 PM ET race window averaged 660,000 viewers, up 2% from last year’s race on FS1 (644,000). On FOX Sports GO, the telecast had an average minute audience of 4,304, an increase of 361% from last year’s Eldora race. It is the third-best streaming performance of an NCWTS race this season, behind Daytona and Atlanta. Earlier in the day, Eldora Qualifying on FS1 scored 258,000 viewers, 11% above last year’s qualifying session (233,000).