MLB ratings decline

[Banedon]

I just thought this was worth some discussion.

 

http://www.sbnation.com/2013/7/2/4484824/why-do-baseball-ratings-continue-to-trend-downward

 

MLB On Fox

 

Year	Viewers
2012	2.50 million
2011	2.74 million
2010	2.70 million
2009	2.70 million
2008	2.90 million
2007	3.31 million
2006	3.34 million
2005	3.60 million
2004	3.44 million
2003	3.37 million

 

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball

 

2012	1.78 million
2011	2.29 million
2010	2.17 million
2009	2.45 million
2008	2.61 million
2007	2.75 million

 

MLB is also coming off the lowest-rated, least-viewed World Series in history. The NLCS between the Cardinals and Giants was the lowest-rated LCS ever on broadcast television. It isn't improving, either" 10 of Fox's 12 MLB broadcast windows this season have drawn lower ratings than the comparable telecast the year before.

[jersey cubs fan]

low scoring baseball is boring

 

of the three most popular teams in the game:

one has been irrelevant for four seasons (cubs)

one is coming off a disastrous season which followed a very disappointing one (bos)

one is a completely overexposed dull brand having a ho-hum season (nyy)

 

Of the 6 current division leaders, only Boston has shown a consistently supportive fan base

[Banedon]

low scoring baseball is boring

 

of the three most popular teams in the game:

one has been irrelevant for four seasons (cubs)

one is coming off a disastrous season which followed a very disappointing one (bos)

one is a completely overexposed dull brand having a ho-hum season (nyy)

 

Of the 6 current division leaders, only Boston has shown a consistently supportive fan base

 

The Mets could be included in the popular, bad team argument too. But it does seem like a larger trend than just this season.

[jersey cubs fan]

low scoring baseball is boring

 

of the three most popular teams in the game:

one has been irrelevant for four seasons (cubs)

one is coming off a disastrous season which followed a very disappointing one (bos)

one is a completely overexposed dull brand having a ho-hum season (nyy)

 

Of the 6 current division leaders, only Boston has shown a consistently supportive fan base

 

The Mets could be included in the popular, bad team argument too. But it does seem like a larger trend than just this season.

 

They could, but they are a distant second in their own city and I don't think they have much of a national presence.

[fallingpieces]

In Omaha the regional games on Fox have been a lot of Nationals and Yankees games (I still don't quite understand what's defining a region). Periodically we get Detroit, so there's quite a few teams no one in this area cares about being aired here as the weekly game. That doesn't help matters.

[Cubswin11]

Fire all the commentators! Buck, Brenneman, Kruk, etc.

[UMFan83]

There just seems to be a lack of buzz surrounding baseball compared to 1998-2005. Some of it can be attributed to decreased scoring and maybe the PED scandal I guess. Even teams like the Yankees (who are admittedly a boring mediocre bunch this year) and Red Sox don't seem to be getting a lot of buzz.

[Derwood]

I've found this entire season boring. Very few individual story lines (outside of maybe Chris Davis, who still isn't a household name for non-fans).

 

Couple that with a pretty entertaining NBA and NHL playoffs, and there has really been no reason to watch baseball at all

[mul21]

I've found this entire season boring. Very few individual story lines (outside of maybe Chris Davis, who still isn't a household name for non-fans).

 

Couple that with a pretty entertaining NBA and NHL playoffs, and there has really been no reason to watch baseball at all

 

Yeah, I think the lack of household name big stars is really a major part of the problem. You don't have guys like Pujols and Jeter and ARod putting up huge seasons on good teams right now. The downturn in offense along with, as jersey said, the lack of big market teams having good seasons have to be playing a part as well. If guys like Davis and McCutcheon were playing in New York, Boston, Chicago, or LA, you might have a little more buzz.

[Guest]

For me, I can't stand watching the national broadcasts because the announcers are all insufferable in their own ways.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

For me, I can't stand watching the national broadcasts because the announcers are all insufferable in their own ways.

 

Pretty much this.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I know I haven't watched a full game all season, and I'm not even sure I've watched more than 2 or 3 innings in a row of any one game.

[jersey cubs fan]

For me, I can't stand watching the national broadcasts because the announcers are all insufferable in their own ways.

 

I don't watch a lot of non-Cubs games in a typical year but I probably haven't seen more than 2 innings of a non-Cubs game this year, combined. I will throw on a Pirates game for my brother-in-law or Phillies for my father-in-law, but then I'll tune out myself and find something else to do.

[Andy]

I've been watching plenty of baseball on MLBTV, but rarely ever watch a national game unless the Cubs are in it.

[SpongeWorthy]

The Cubs threatening to win the World Series is the only thing that will (temporarily) halt the secular decline in baseball's popularity.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Cubs threatening to win the World Series is the only thing that will (temporarily) halt the secular decline in baseball's popularity.

 

Yeah, I probably should have included this in the list of reasons:

 

Baby boomers keep dying.

[XZero771679666304]

low scoring baseball is boring

 

of the three most popular teams in the game:

one has been irrelevant for four seasons (cubs)

one is coming off a disastrous season which followed a very disappointing one (bos)

one is a completely overexposed dull brand having a ho-hum season (nyy)

 

Of the 6 current division leaders, only Boston has shown a consistently supportive fan base

 

Yeah, the big "national following" teams have been pretty uninspiring recently.

 

 

But fwiw, the Harris Sports Popularity Poll showed a modest gain for MLB this year over last, and MLB being pretty solidly still the second most popular sport.

[Derwood]

5 out of the 6 first place teams are 11th or worse (out of 15) in home attendance as well

[bcl412]

I find it hard to get too into baseball until September when the Cubs are bad.

 

It's hard for me to get into individual baseball games during the regular season since a single game doesn't really mean much. In order to really enjoy the beauty of a season I feel like you have to follow a team for an entire season. This has always been the case though.

 

I kind of miss steroid era baseball and the lack of runs probably drives people away that and since the Cubs aren't good, and haven't been for awhile and since the Red Sox have won twice now, there really isn't a story line for everyone to grab onto (as has been said.)

[d_money]

For me, I can't stand watching the national broadcasts because the announcers are all insufferable in their own ways.

 

Pretty much this.

Sign me up for this too

[Sammy Sofa]

low scoring baseball is boring

 

of the three most popular teams in the game:

one has been irrelevant for four seasons (cubs)

one is coming off a disastrous season which followed a very disappointing one (bos)

one is a completely overexposed dull brand having a ho-hum season (nyy)

 

Of the 6 current division leaders, only Boston has shown a consistently supportive fan base

 

Couldn't agree more with this; couple almost all of the biggest teams being disappointments and/or not really having any compelling players/storylines with baseball becoming more of a pitchers' game again and it makes complete sense why interest is waning right now. People complain about the Yankees and Red Sox, but when they're both really good it tends to bring interest in the game up. The Cubs not sucking would be a huge help, too, plus the Dodgers not being a disaster.

[Formerly Snayke]

It would've been helpful for the author of this article to provide some numbers on what ratings are like in the individual markets. Baseball has become hyper-localized, and using Sunday Night Baseball and Game of the Week as your main points is pretty flimsy.

[CubsInNC]

It would've been helpful for the author of this article to provide some numbers on what ratings are like in the individual markets. Baseball has become hyper-localized, and using Sunday Night Baseball and Game of the Week as your main points is pretty flimsy.

 

When did the "superstation tax" go into effect? It would be interesting to see if the national (and localized) ratings coincide with when teams drastically reduced (or dropped altogether) their national superstations. It would also be interesting to see how those numbers correlate (correlation does not equal causation) with the surge in ratings for weekly national NFL games.