May 26, 200521 yr FOX Saturday Baseball draws record setting audiences 05/26/2005 2:17 PM ET MLB Press Release According to Nielsen Media Research, Saturday's Major League Baseball coverage on FOX drew an average of 4.118 million viewers, ranking as the most-watched Week One Saturday telecast ever on the network since it began coverage in 1996. Saturday's coverage registered a 2.9/9 HH rating and share, marking a 7% increase over last year's comparable telecast. Saturday's coverage on FOX was also record-setting in key demographics, as its 683,000 Men 18-34 marked the largest average audience ever in that segment for a Major League Baseball Saturday season opener on FOX. FOX Saturday Baseball averaged a 2.1 rating in Men 18-34 last week, representing a 24% increase over the same coverage from last year. Likewise, the average audience of 1.394 million Men 18-49 averaged for Saturday's coverage is also an all-time high for a Week One Saturday Baseball telecast on FOX, and the 2.2 rating averaged in that demographic reflects a 38% increase over last year's Saturday opener on FOX. "Major League Baseball is more popular than ever, and we are thrilled to see that popularity reflected in the ratings for the 2005 premier of Major League Baseball on FOX," said Tim Brosnan, Executive Vice President, Business, Major League Baseball. "To begin our 10th season on FOX with record-breaking viewership numbers bodes well for what will be an extremely exciting season of Major League Baseball on FOX." FOX's first Saturday Major League Baseball telecast this year was also the most-watched Week One Saturday telecast ever in Adults 18-49, averaging 1.866 million viewers in that demographic, and producing a 17% year-to-year rating increase (1.4 vs. 1.2). Last Saturday's average audience of 273,000 Teen viewers matches the first FOX Saturday Baseball telecast in 2000 as the most-watched Week One FOX telecast ever among that audience. Year-to-year growth for Week One of FOX Saturday Baseball was also impressive in other key demographics, increasing by 23% in Male Teens (1.6 vs. 1.3), 27% in Adults 18-34 (1.4 vs. 1.1), and 35% in Men 25-54 (2.3 vs. 1.7). Fox just recently did a 180-degree change and said it wants to renew its MLB package for another 6 years. The Game of the Week has to do better and this looks promising. The Marlins will appear on Fox at least 4 times this season and hopefully will see more selections in the coming years.
May 26, 200521 yr This was the interleague game, right? 784693[/snapback] Yeah. I think it was the Mets-Yankees game.
May 26, 200521 yr Author Yup...Week 1 had Yanks-Mets, White Sox-Cubs, Astros-Rangers, and Angels-Dodgers.
May 26, 200521 yr "This week in Baseball" is the best part of FOX Saturday baseball, I always try to catch it. last week Damon hosted it and I believe this Saturday it's going to be Scott Podsednik they need to get JP and Dontrelle on there one week
May 26, 200521 yr Author You can watch TWIB online at http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/video/twib/index.jsp BTW, MLB Productions does a great job with TWIB and all the DVDs they do. All their stuff is done in HD for future uses. MLB Productions is way better than NFL Films in the way they put it out there to kids on TWIB. Who the hell watches Inside the Helmet?
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