Dramatic 2015 Division Series boosts fan consumption of MLB postseason on all platforms
North American Viewership Increases +38%; U.S. Viewership Increases +22%
The 2015 Division Series continued an exciting Postseason that began with the most-consumed Wild Card round in its history. The first two Postseason rounds have led to increased audience consumption across all platforms, including North American television audiences and fans engaging with digital content.
U.S. TELEVISION
On television in the U.S., the Postseason has averaged 4.210 million viewers, an increase of +22% versus last year (3.449 million) and the highest average U.S. audience since 2010.
NORTH AMERICAN TELEVISION
When including average 2015 Postseason viewership in Canada (1.222 million) on Sportsnet (Rogers), the average North American television audience for the Postseason to date is 5.563 million, an increase of +38% versus last year (4.028 million). (Note: This does not include three games total in '14 & '15 which Rogers did not air).
The five games of the American League Division Series featuring the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays rank as the five most-watched programs in Sportsnet's history, initially setting a record with Game One and continuing to break it with each subsequent game. The average Sportsnet audience for that series was 3.55 million.
MLBAM LIVE DIGITAL DATA RATINGS (LDDR)
Entering the League Championship Series, MLBAM's first-of-its-kind Live Digital Data Ratings (LDDR) study (http://atmlb.com/1R1CxXP), which analyzes fan consumption across its flagship digital products exclusively during live game windows, showed daily averages of 38.2 million minutes consumed and 4.2 million unique sessions. The LDDR study continued to show triple-digit increases over the average regular season games, +240% for minutes consumed and +158% for unique sessions per game during the Postseason, highlighted by ALDS Game Five between the Rangers and Blue Jays which fans made the #1 most consumed nine-inning game of the year with 36.2 million minutes consumed and 5.5 million unique sessions.
Additional highlights from the 2015 Division Series include:
- Most viewed NLDS coverage of all-time on TBS (5.4 million)
- Most-watched telecast in FS1's history (ALDS G5 HOU/KC; 5.944 million viewers)
- Largest audience in Sportsnet history (ALDS G5 TEX/TOR; 4.85 million viewers)
- MLB Network's highest combined coverage rating (1.9) of Postseason games in its history (TEX/TOR G2 & KC/HOU G3)
The full Postseason schedule can be found on MLB.com/Postseason.
Sources for the data include Nielsen, Numeris, and Adobe Analytics.