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2015 MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
VERY, VERY GOOD TO FOX SPORTS
Viewership up Over 25% on FOX Sports 1;
Local Telecasts Setting Records & Dominating Primetime
New York - The 2015 Major League Baseball season is less than a month old, but so far it's been very, very good to FOX Sports, both nationally and locally.
The season has started strong on FOX Sports 1, the nation's fastest growing sports channel, with average viewership +26% compared to the season's first three Saturdays a year ago (597,000 vs. 472,000). More impressive is the 28% season-to-date growth in the key Adult 18-49 demographic (204,000 vs. 160,000) which is being driven by the Adult 18-34 segment which is nearly double this point last year (110,000 vs. 58,000). All figures are based on reports from Nielsen.
Last Saturday (4/25) was particularly strong for MLB on FOX Sports 1. The Indians-Tigers game delivered FOX Sports 1 its largest MLB audience ever (817,000), while the Yankees-Mets game that followed posted 647,000 viewers, also a channel record for a non-exclusive regular season game.
Locally, MLB telecasts on FOX-owned regional sports networks are again dominating primetime in many major markets this month. Game telecasts of five teams - the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres - rank as the No. 1-rated programming in primetime since the start of the season in their respective home markets, beating both broadcast and ad-supported cable competition head-to-head. Three other teams - the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays - rank second best in prime time locally. Additional local highlights follow:
- Royals telecast ratings on FOX Sports Kansas City are up +129% year-to-year (through 4/26), while setting household (HH) ratings records three times this season, including the current record (17.3) on Sunday (4/26) in a game vs. the White Sox.
- Padres ratings on FOX Sports San Diego are up +67% year-to-year (through 4/28), and game telecasts have broken or tied a ratings record seven times this season. The current record (7.2 HH) was set Friday (4/24) night in a loss to the Dodgers.
- Diamondbacks ratings on FOX Sports Arizona are off to their best start in 10 years, averaging a 4.5 HH rating, up +36% season-to-date vs. 2014.
Streaming of games televised by FOX Sports continues growing at a lightning fast clip. Unique streams are up +178% through the season's first three weeks compared to a year ago, while minutes viewed are up an even more impressive +268%. For the second straight year, all MLB regular season games and jewel events televised by FOX Sports - the All-Star Game, Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series - are streamed live on the FOX Sports GO mobile app and FOXSportsGO.com.
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