World Baseball Classic buildup lifts spring training viewership

With the World Baseball Classic just underway, exhibition games featuring national teams are already drawing strong TV audiences.

Last Tuesday, an exhibition game between the United States and the San Francisco Giants averaged 677,000 viewers on ESPN. The game, which began in the middle of the afternoon, is the most-watched spring training game since a Tampa Bay Rays-Cuba national baseball team exhibition on ESPN in 2016.

ESPN aired four spring training games this week. On Monday, the Braves and Tigers averaged 468,000 viewers, which was also a 10-year high for ESPN. Viewership for ESPN’s other spring training games has not yet been released.

Last year, spring training games on ESPN averaged just 289,000 viewers. Nielsen’s new Big Data measurement system has generally increased reported ratings by roughly 15%, but even accounting for that increase, ESPN’s early spring training numbers are running well ahead of last year.

Fox Sports holds the rights to the World Baseball Classic, so this was ESPN’s only opportunity to show off the team. Meanwhile, Fox is betting that the World Baseball Classic will be a viewership success. Compared to 2023, Fox will air four additional games, including the final, over the air.

The Dominican Republic national baseball team is also expected to be a big draw, with a roster featuring Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Julio Rodriguez.

On Tuesday, MLB Network aired an exhibition game between the Dominican Republic and the Detroit Tigers from Santo Domingo. That game averaged 183,000 viewers. An immediate comparison was not available, but MLB Network’s most-watched spring training game last year was Yankees–Braves with 203,000 viewers.

International team sports are having a bit of a moment recently. Two weeks ago, the United States-Canada hockey Olympic final was NBC Sports’ second-most-watched hockey game ever. And just a few days ago, FIBA announced a new agreement with TNT Sports that will greatly expand the number of international basketball games on television in the United States.

The World Baseball Classic will go from March 5-17. Viewership for the games that have already been played is not yet available.