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MLB All-Star Game Wins the Night on Television and Twitter

8.1 Metered Market Rating Leads FOX to Easy Win in Primetime

The 84th MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday -- in which the American League snapped a three-year skid with a 3-0 victory and Mariano Rivera earned the MVP award in his final All-Star Game appearance -- was a big hit with fans on television as well as social media. The telecast on FOX drew an 8.1 metered market household rating according to Nielsen, leading FOX to an easy win in primetime and topping its nearest competitor by 59%. The All-Star Game was also the highest-rated program on FOX since the American Idol finale in May.

The game drew a strong 11.3 rating in the host city of New York, up +16% from New York's local rating for the 2012 All-Star Game. Detroit led all markets with a 20.3 rating, its highest rating for an All-Star Game since 2005 and a +26% increase from last year. Other top-rated markets included St. Louis (16.4), Kansas City (13.9), Cincinnati (12.8) and Baltimore (12.6, a +70% increase over 2012). Other markets showing big increases vs. last year include Cleveland (10.5, +27%), Minneapolis (10.6, +26%), Boston (8.8, +14%) and Tampa Bay (9.0, +13%). 

On social media, the telecast generated 851,192 total comments among 477,795 unique users according to data from Twitter, the most ever for an All-Star Game and a +5% increase in social commentary over the 2012 event. The All-Star Game was by far the most discussed TV program on social media on Tuesday across all dayparts and networks. The conversation peaked at 14,000 tweets per minute as Rivera entered the game for the bottom of the 8th inning, and his one inning of work generated more than 109,000 total comments. Twenty-nine (29) different topics related to the All-Star Game trended worldwide on Twitter, including 15 different players. #ASG was the most popular hashtag used, and was included in more than 17% of all social media comments throughout the event.

To deepen fan engagement even further, for the second consecutive year, computer stations were set up adjacent to each clubhouse allowing players -- once they finished competing in the game -- to use social media. Fifteen players visited the social media concierge rooms, including starting pitchers Matt Harvey (@MattHarvey33) and Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer), who tweeted for the first time in more than a year within minutes of leaving mound in the All-Star Game. A number of players also created content that was shared via the @MLB account, including Joe Mauer, who sent his first tweet ever. Other players to visit the rooms and create content included Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19), Robinson Cano, Aroldis Chapman, Patrick Corbin, Michael Cuddyer (@mcuddy3), Yu Darvish, Jose Fernandez (@JoseFernandez77), Freddie Freeman, Adam Jones (@SimplyAJ10), Matt Moore, Chris Sale and Mike Trout. Fernandez increased his Twitter following by 77% (2,209 new followers) from tweeting during the game, while Scherzer gained 7,910 new followers (+38%) and Harvey picked up 7,382 (+12%). Among the many highlights of the content they created: