Chevrolet Home Run Derby generates strong +6% ratings increase

Monday night's Chevrolet Home Run Derby -- where Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics defeated Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals in the finals -- was a big hit with fans on television as well as social media. The telecast on ESPN drew a 5.0 metered market rating according to Nielsen, up +6% over the 2012 event. Based on the metered market numbers, ESPN was the top-rated network across all of television in prime time on Monday night.

The top-rated markets were Detroit (9.8), Pittsburgh (9.6), Baltimore (9.0), New York (7.9) and St. Louis (7.4). With Orioles slugger Chris Davis reaching the second round, Baltimore led all markets with a +137% increase over last year's event.

In addition, the telecast generated 868,878 social media comments according to data from Twitter, an +8% increase in social commentary over the 2012 event. The event was also the most discussed TV program on social media on Monday across all dayparts and networks. The conversation peaked near the end of Cespedes' 17 home run first round, which generated about 10,000 tweets per minute. Twenty-seven different topics related to the Chevrolet Home Run Derby trended in the U.S. on Twitter during the event, and ten trended worldwide. All eight participants trended in the U.S. over the course of the night, and #HRDerby was the most popular hashtag used, accounting for approximately 20% of the overall conversation around the event.

For the third consecutive year, players were able to use social media from the field during the event, both through their own personal devices as well as at stations set up near each dugout. Twenty-seven different All-Stars sent a combined 153 tweets during the event, and the activity led to significant fan engagement as well as notable increases in the players' following. Cespedes (@ynscspds) picked up 23,455 new Twitter followers on Monday (measured from 9:00amET Monday to 9:00amET Tuesday), more than doubling his following (+148%). Other players to see large increases in Twitter following included Harper (@Bharper3407; +18,002), Prince Fielder (@RealPFielder28; +9,526), Mike Trout (@Trouty20; +7,893) and Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33; +4,388).

Social media will once again play a role during tonight's All-Star Game (7:30pm ET on FOX) after a successful initial launch during last year's event. Computer stations will be set up adjacent to each clubhouse allowing players -- once they are no longer competing in the game -- to quickly reach out to fans via social media while completing their other media obligations before returning to the bench. This initiative is a collaboration between Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association (@MLB_Players) and MLB Advanced Media, with support from FOX.

Below is a list of All-Stars currently active on Twitter, along with additional accounts expected to produce content. Players who don't have personal social media accounts will also have the opportunity to participate by interacting with fans through the official MLB/MLBPA accounts.

American League
Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19)
Miguel Cabrera (@MiguelCabrera)
Robinson Cano (@RobinsonCano)
Jason Castro (@J_Castro15)
Jesse Crain (@JesseCrain)
Nelson Cruz (@ncboomstick17)
Yu Darvish (@faridyu)
Steve Delabar (@SteveDelabar19)
Edwin Encarnacion (@Encadwin)
Prince Fielder (@RealPFielder28)
Felix Hernandez (@RealKingFelix)
Torii Hunter (@toriihunter48)
Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10)
Jason Kipnis (@TheJK_Kid)
Matt Moore (@MattyMoe)
Joe Nathan (@JoeNathan36)
David Ortiz @davidortiz)
Dustin Pedroia (@15LaserShow)
Salvador Perez (@SalvadorPerez15)
Glen Perkins (@@glen_perkins)
Mariano Rivera (@MarianoRivera)
Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer)
Mike Trout (@Trouty20)
Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander)
Ben Zobrist (@TheZobrists)

National League
Carlos Beltran (@carlosbeltran15)
Everth Cabrea (@CabreraEverth)
Matt Carpenter (@MattCarp13)
Patrick Corbin (@PatrickCorbin11)
Michael Cuddyer (mcuddy3)
Jose Fernandez (@JoseFernandez77)
Freddie Freeman (@FreddieFreeman5)
Carlos Gomez (@C_Gomez27)
Carlos Gonzalez (@CarGoMedia5)
Jason Grilli (@GrillCheese49)
Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407)
Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33)
Clayton Kershaw (@ClaytonKersh22)
Craig Kimbrel (@Kimbrel46)
Jeff Locke (@Jeff_Locke)
Andrew McCutchen (@TheCutch22)
Mark Melancon (@Mark_Melancon)
Yadier Molina (@Yadimolina04)
Brandon Phillips (@DatDudeBP)
Buster Posey (@BusterPosey)
Sergio Romo (@SergioRomo54)
Jean Segura (@jeansegura9)

Other
@MLB
@MLB_Players
@MLBPAClubhouse
@MLB_PR
@MLBFanCave
@AllStarGame
@MLBSocial
@Cut4
@MLBONFOX
@buck
@Ken_Rosenthal
@ErinAndrews