Last week, the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby dominated primetime ratings on both broadcast TV and cable, pushing baseball to the top of the TV ratings despite both events experiencing a decline in viewership compared to previous years.
The Home Run Derby, won by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, was watched by 6.11 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2. This marked the lowest viewership for the event since 2018.
On FOX, the MLB All-Star Game drew an average of 7.01 million viewers, a record-low for the game. This is the fifth time in the last seven years that the game has hit a new low in viewership. The National League clinched its first title since 2012 thanks to an eighth-inning home run by Rockies catcher Elias Diaz.
Compared to 2022, last week's All-Star Game viewership was down 7%. It joins 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2022 as years that have seen record-breakingly low viewership for the event.
Despite the decline in viewership, the All-Star Game still outperformed other broadcast shows during the same week. The second-most-watched broadcast show was America's Got Talent on NBC with 5.6 million average viewers, followed by CBS's 60 Minutes with 4.9 million viewers.
The most-watched cable show not tied to the Home Run Derby was the Wimbledon men’s championship on ESPN, which had an average of 3.2 million viewers. This was followed by Tuesday's episode of Fox News' The Five with 2.6 million viewers.
While All-Star events across sports have experienced declining viewership in recent years, the MLB remains the top sport in terms of TV ratings. The NFL Pro Bowl games in February saw a 6% decrease in viewership compared to the previous year. The NBA All-Star Game was the least-watched ever, down 37% from the previous year. However, the 2023 NHL All-Star Game saw a 31% increase in viewership compared to 2022.
It's worth noting that the 2023 World Baseball Classic between the United States and Japan in March broke viewing records, becoming the most-watched WBC game of all time. Overall, while the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby may have experienced a decline in viewership, baseball remains a popular sport on television.