Viewership up 47% from Last Year; Biggest Regular-Season Audience for ESPN Since Aug. 2011
With 3,354,000 viewers watching on ESPN2, Major League Baseball’s Opening Night presented by Scotts (St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs) delivered a 47% increase from last year’s game (Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres – 2,279,000 viewers) and the biggest audience for an ESPN or ESPN2 MLB Opening Night since 2008, according to Fast National figures from Nielsen. The corresponding U.S. Household rating was a 2.0, up 43% from 2014 (1.4).
Additionally, viewership for the game represents the highest total for an ESPN or ESPN2 regular-season game since New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox on August 7, 2011.
On the digital front, the game had 163,000 unique viewers (an increase of 180% from last year) and 8.6 million minutes viewed (up 218%), which makes it the most-viewed regular-season MLB game ever on WatchESPN.
Opening Day on ESPN
ESPN and ESPN2 are in the midst of an MLB Opening Day quadrupleheader, which began at 1 p.m. ET with New York Yankees hosting the Toronto Blue Jays. In the second game, the New York Mets will visit the Washington Nationals at 4 p.m. Afternoon action will be followed by a prime-time doubleheader as the Cleveland Indians visit the Houston Astros at 7 p.m. and the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants visit the Arizona Diamondbacks at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.
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Media contact: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or ben.cafardo@espn.com (@Ben_ESPN);
Gianina Thompson at 860-766-7022 or gianina.thompson@espn.com (@Gianina_ESPN).
