In the final year before a shakeup in its national media rights arrangements, MLB achieved solid viewership gains compared to the 2024 season.
According to a report by Mike Mazzeo in Sports Business Journal, all four of the league’s national broadcast partners saw year-over-year increases. ESPN, in its final season airing the Sunday Night Baseball package, averaged 1.83 million viewers per game, a 21% increase from last season. It was the most-watched season of Sunday Night Baseball since 2013.
Fox secured a solid 9% year-over-year increase, averaging 2.04 million viewers for games that aired on its broadcast network. On FS1, games averaged 324,000 viewers, up 10% from 2024 and marking the network’s best season since 2019.
TBS/truTV saw the most significant percentage increase versus last season, averaging 462,000 viewers for its non-exclusive package of games, which translated to a 29% year-over-year increase.
League-owned MLB Network also earned a solid bump, averaging 232,000 viewers per game, a 21% increase versus 2024 and the channel’s best year since 2018.
Regional sports networks also fared well this year. According to Mazzeo, league-wide local viewership increased by 3% over the previous year. Additionally, MLB.tv, the league’s out-of-market subscription service, earned record consumption, clocking 19.39 billion minutes watched, per Front Office Sports. That figure represents a 34% increase over last year.
FanDuel Sports Network, which holds local rights for nine MLB teams, saw its viewership increase by 17% year-over-year, with seven individual clubs posting gains compared to 2024, according to SBJ. (The Atlanta Braves and the Tampa Bay Rays were the two teams to see declines.) The regional networks reportedly averaged 1.5 million aggregate viewers on a nightly basis. Streaming, which has been a key focus for FanDuel Sports Network through its Amazon Channels partnership, increased by 70% year-over-year.
Of course, MLB was boosted somewhat by Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurements taking effect for the last month of the season, along with the introduction of expanded out-of-home viewing in February. Still, some of the year-over-year increases suggest that these gains are more than simply a result of Nielsen’s methodological changes.
With the league set to increase its broadcast network exposure next season due to its impending Sunday Night Baseball deal with NBC, MLB will hope to see yet another rise in viewership next season.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.