Prime Time TV Ratings For All 29 U.S. MLB Teams Show Baseball Ruling … – Forbes

Pre-All-Star Break MLB TV Ratings 2014 and 2015

UPDATED: 12:30pm ET

Prime time television ratings for each of the Major League Baseball up to a week before the All-Star break show an increase over the same period last year, according to data from Nielsen. Using data for each of the 29 domestic U.S. clubs (Nielsen does not track ratings in Canada so the Toronto Blue Jays are excluded), 13 clubs are seeing gains, compared to 12 seeing losses. The 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants see an average household rating the same as a year ago (4.86).

The percentage of gain is approximate based on teams playing uneven numbers of games during the same span up to the week before the All-Star Game from last year to this. A single ratings point represents 1 percent of the total number of television households in a given designated market area. This is why the Royals can have a much higher rating, but the viewership numbers will be lower.

On top of this, MLB at the local level is dominating summer programming. Each RSN televises an average of 148 MLB game per season, most in prime time (7p-11p), when the television audience is the greatest.

Ten teams are the highest-rated, most-viewed programming in prime time beating the competition in both broadcast and cable. These teams include the Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Another 6 teams rank no. 2 or no. 3 in local prime time TV, including the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, and New York Yankees. While another 11 teams rank no. 4 – no. 7 in local prime time TV ratings, including the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, and Oakland Athletics.

When excluding broadcast television, 25 of 30 clubs are ranked the #1 rated program on cable since the season started.

Leading the charge is the 2014 American League Champion Kansas City Royals. The team that has captured not only the heart of KC but many in markets that do not host MLB teams due to their break in futility last season and the management style of Ned Yost who puts on the steal more than most in recent memory. The Royals on FS Kansas City sees a whopping 114 percent increase in ratings over the same period prior from a 5.93 to a scorching 12.69. They are followed by the St. Louis Cardinals (10.17 rating, up 35 percent from last year), the Detroit Tigers (a 7.68 rating down 8 percent from 2014), the Pittsburgh Pirates (a 7.61 which was nearly flat from last season at the All-Star Game break), and the Seattle Mariners with a 6.29, up 10 percent from the 5.72 at this point last year.

While the numbers appear small in the listings, the Houston Astros 1.85 rating is a significant achievement. Last year at this time they were mired in the CSN Houston bankruptcy battle and had no carriage outside of Comcast in the Houston market. This caused rating numbers to be virtually useless (on more than one occasion the Astros on CSN Houston registered a 0.00 rating during the tumultuous period). After getting out from underneath the bankruptcy and onto the new ROOT Sports SW, the Astros see a 1.85 viewership average. While the numbers were not made available for this report, according to the SportsBusiness Daily, the increase was four-fold over 2014.

Another interesting look at the numbers centers on the New York Mets. After years of controversy surrounding ownership and investments with Bernie Madoff, low attendance, and poor performance on the field, the first half of the season the Mets seems to be getting some traction. They see a 27 percent growth in viewership for prime time games over last season.