Most-watched MLB Draft First Round Ever
Last night’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN and ESPN2 was the most-watched since 2017, according to Nielsen. The event generated an average audience of 7,126,000 viewers, including 6,358,000 viewers on ESPN and 767,000 viewers on ESPN2 for the Statcast-focused alternate presentation.
The telecast peaked with 8,685,000 viewers from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET during the swing-off between Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto.
Viewership for the T-Mobile Home Run Derby was up 13 percent from 2019 and up 19 percent from 2018. The ESPN2 Statcast-focused alternate presentation made its debut in 2018. There was no MLB All-Star event in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here are the top five local market ratings for the 2021 T-Mobile Home Run Derby:
| Market | Rating |
| 1)Kansas City | 8.2 |
| 2)Denver | 7.8 |
| 3)Cincinnati | 7.6 |
| 4)San Diego | 7.5 |
| 5)Hartford | 6.6 |
Most-watched MLB Draft first round ever
The first round of the 2021 MLB Draft was the most-watched ever. ESPN’s coverage of the first round generated an average audience of 781,000 viewers, up 77 percent from 2020 – the first year the event aired on ESPN. In total, the MLB Draft drew 1,030,000 viewers across ESPN and MLB Network.
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