MLB Finishes 2024 Season With Highest Attendance in Seven Years

NATIONAL VIEWERSHIP INCREASES ACROSS MLB TV PARTNERS

Double Digit Growth in 18-34 Audience Achieved by ESPN, FS1 and MLB Network

MLB.TV SETS NEW RECORD FOR STREAMING MINUTES WATCHED

28 Most-Watched Games on MLB.TV Have Occurred Since New Rules Were Instituted
Mets Postseason Clincher Ranks as Fifth Most-Watched Game in MLB.TV History

The 2024 Major League Baseball season recorded increases in attendance, viewership, streaming, and fan engagement in its second season of new rules which have shortened games, removed dead time, helped showcase the athleticism of the players and created more action on the bases. The average time of game in 2024 was 2:36, the crispest average in 40 years (1984, 2:35). Stolen bases also increased to 3,617, the most in 109 years (1915) and the third most in any Major League season since 1900, behind 1914 (4,574) and 1915 (4,108).

“The increased enthusiasm baseball fans of all ages have shown the last two seasons is evident in all of the ways we track fan engagement,” said Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. “Building off last year’s momentum, the 2024 season was memorable with historic performances, emerging young stars, a series of successful special events, and tight pennant races. We thank all the fans for their outstanding support and look forward to an exciting Postseason.”

ATTENDANCE
The 2024 MLB season recorded the largest attendance in seven years (2017) with a total of 71,348,366, a +1% increase over last year’s total. The growth marks the first time MLB attendance has registered back-to-back attendance gains in 12 years (since 2011-12). Since the institution of the new rules, attendance has grown by nearly 6.8 million marking a +11% increase since 2022.

The shorter game times have driven increases in weekday attendance allowing fans to get home earlier on traditional work and school nights. Weekday average attendance has increased by +13% since the 2022 season prior to the institution of the new rules. Twenty-four Clubs (80%) have increased their average attendance since the adoption of the new rules. A highlight of the season took place the weekend of June 14-16 when MLB drew its best-attended weekend in 16 years (August 2008) for both total attendance (1,688,731) and average attendance (37,527). In addition, MLB recorded its highest attendance in September in 13 years (2011).

TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP
Major League Baseball’s national television partners enjoyed a successful season with increases in television viewership and younger fans. MLB’s national television partners registered double digit growth in the Adult 18-34 category including ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (+12%), FS1 (+24%) and MLB Network (+36%). In addition, FOX registered a +9% increase in the 18-34 demo.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball finished the season with its most-watched season in five years (2019) with an average audience of 1,505,000 viewers, a +6% increase over last year. FOX’s audience was consistent with last year’s average as the network attracted an average of 1,879,000 up slightly from last year’s 1,875,000. Meanwhile, MLB games on FS1 have increased +9%. With an average audience of 375,000, MLB on TBS early primetime games increased viewership +2% versus last season.

Viewership for MLB Network Showcase games increased +11% versus last year with an average of 231,000. MLB Network’s games are not shown in the home market of the participating Clubs. MLB Network’s coverage of Jackson Holliday’s Major League debut on April 10th averaged 626,000 viewers making it the second most-watched regular season game ever on the Network. MLB Network’s studio shows also registered significant gains this year including MLB Central: +9%, High Heat: +14%, MLB Now: +9%, Intentional Talk: +23%, MLB Tonight: Batting Practice: +13% & Big Inning: +7%.

Despite challenges to the regional sports network system impacting numerous sports, MLB games distributed locally continue to perform exceedingly well versus its competition in their respective markets. Ratings for MLB games in primetime rank first locally on cable in 20 of the 25 (80%) U.S. markets that host MLB Clubs. Ratings for MLB games in primetime rank first locally on all networks in 14 of the 25 (56%) U.S. markets that host MLB Clubs.

STREAMING AUDIENCE
MLB.TV set a new high of 14.5 billion minutes watched, a jump of +14% over last year’s previous high mark of 12.7 billion minutes watched. The 28 most-watched days in MLB.TV history have occurred in the last two seasons since the implementation of the new rules with 19 of those days taking place in 2024. In addition, seven of the 10 most-watched days ever on MLB.TV have occurred during the 2024 season.

Four of the nine most-watched games occurred in 2024 including the Yankees vs. Astros Opening Day match-up, which was the top game in the history of the 22-year out-of-market streaming service. Yesterday’s thrilling 8-7 Mets win, which was capped by a ninth inning home run by Francisco Lindor and clinched a Postseason berth for New York, ranks as the fifth most-watched game in the history of MLB.TV. The debut of Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes ranks as the sixth most-watched game in streaming service’s history.

YOUNGER AUDIENCE
In addition to registering double digit increases on its national TV audiences in the 18-34 category, younger fans are increasingly engaging in baseball in other ways.
• The percentage of ticket buyers ages 18-35 has jumped +8.5% in the last five years (since 2019).
• The median age of ticket purchasers has decreased five years since 2019, from 51 to 46.
• The average age of newly created accounts in MLB’s fan database has decreased by more than seven years since 2019 from 43.4 to 36.2. These are people who have at least one digital engagement over the past year which includes watching an MLB.TV stream, ticket purchase/scan, and MLB Shop purchases.
• According to SFIA, Baseball participation is at nearly 16.7 million in the United States, the highest officially recorded level since SFIA’s survey of more than 120 sports began in 2008.
o Casual participation in baseball is at more than 8.9 million participants – also an all-time high and an increase of +108% since the launch of MLB’s PLAY BALL program.
o Baseball has the highest participation numbers among boys ages 6-12.
o Baseball and softball, combined, also had the highest participation among boys and girls ages 6-12.

DIGITAL AUDIENCE
MLB social media platforms all registered double digit growth over the previous season including Instagram (+28%), X (formerly Twitter) (+69%), Facebook (+17%), and YouTube (+33%). In the 24 hours surrounding Shohei Ohtani entering the 50/50 club, MLB posts generated 98.4 million impressions on X alone. September 19th represented MLB’s biggest day in its Twitter/X history and included the account’s top two posts of all-time focused around Ohtani’s 50/50 accomplishment and his 6-for-6 performance in the same game.

INTERNATIONAL VIEWERSHIP
MLB’s international viewership increased during a season where the league played regular season games in Korea, Mexico City, and London. Global viewership has increased +18% versus last season with double digit growth in Asia (+32%) and Latin America (+16%). With the outstanding play of Shohei Ohtani, Shota Imanaga, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto generating excitement, NHK in Japan is on pace to register its fourth-straight viewership gain (since 2021) with an average audience of nearly 2.2 million viewers.