ESPN’s 2015 Major League Baseball season-opening viewership is up 48 percent compared to 2014, according to Nielsen. Through five games – MLB Opening Night and a MLB Opening Day quadruple-header – ESPN is averaging 1,370,000 viewers (p2+) compared to 926,000 in 2014. ESPN is also up 50 percent in U.S. household rating (0.9 versus 0.6) compared to last year.

Key Demos

ESPN’s season-opening ratings are up double-digits across all key demos: 17 percent in M18-34 (0.7 versus 0.6); 17 percent in M18-49 (0.7 versus 0.6); 40 percent in M25-54 (0.7 versus 0.5); 67 percent in P18-34 (0.5 versus 0.3); 67 percent in P18-49 (0.5 versus 0.3); 67 percent in P25-54 (0.5 versus 0.3).

Opening Day

ESPN and ESPN2 combined to televise a four-game MLB Opening Day slate on Monday, April 6, which was up 21 percent in viewership compared to the company’s five-game Opening Day slate in 2014 (803,000 versus 666,000). Additionally, the composite rating for MLB Opening Day was a 0.6 (U.S household) up 20 percent versus a 0.5 (U.S. household) in 2014.

Opening Night

ESPN2’s MLB Opening Night telecast presented by Scotts – St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs – on Sunday, April 5, delivered 3,354,000 viewers and a 2.0 U.S. household rating. This is up 47 percent from 2,279,000 viewers and 43 percent from 1.4 U.S. household rating compared to Opening Night 2014 – Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres.

*For more information on individual Opening Day game ratings and viewership information, please contact ESPN Communications below.

 More MLB on ESPN

• com: Newly designed ESPN.com MLB section
• ESPN Media Zone: MLB Media Kit
• ESPN Front Row: MLB

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Media contacts: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or [email protected] (@Ben_ESPN);

Gianina Thompson at 860-766-7022 or [email protected] (@Gianina_ESPN).