MLB generated the best buzz of any sport last year

MLB generated the best buzz of any sport last year

March 13th, 2023

MLB generated the most favorable buzz of any sport in the U.S. last year, according to new data from YouGov. 

Major League Baseball ranked No. 1 in the YouGov SportsIndex's "Buzz Score" -- outperforming top competitors like the NFL and FIFA World Cup.

The SportsIndex: Global Sports rankings are a daily brand tracking tool that measures public perception of professional sports leagues and sporting events in the U.S. and internationally.

One of the key metrics is Buzz Score, which is based on surveys where participants from the general public are asked two questions about 200 sports properties across more than 30 sports:

  1. Over the past two weeks, which of the following sporting events/leagues have you heard something POSITIVE about (whether in the news, through advertising, or talking to friends and family)?
  2. Now, which of the following have you heard something NEGATIVE about over the past two weeks?

The Buzz Score is then calculated as the difference between the percentage of respondents hearing positive news vs. negative news about a sport or event in the previous two weeks.

MLB had the top Buzz Score in the U.S. for 2022, reaching a 17.6 Buzz Score in August.

Top global sports Buzz Scores in U.S., 2022

  1. Major League Baseball: 17.6 (August)
  2. National Football League: 16.8 (November)
  3. FIFA World Cup: 14.8 (December)
  4. U.S. Open (tennis): 14.1 (September)
  5. NCAA Division I college basketball: 11.8 (March)

According to YouGov SportsIndex: Global Sports rankings 2023

MLB's 17.6 was the No. 1 Buzz Score both overall for any global sports property tracked by YouGov, as well as for domestic sports properties.

Baseball's top Buzz Score came just as the playoff races began to heat up, along with Aaron Judge's chase for 62 home runs and Albert Pujols' pursuit of 700 career home runs.

MLB generated more favorable buzz during that period than the NFL around Thanksgiving, the World Cup as Lionel Messi and Argentina won the title, the U.S. Open during phenom Carlos Alcaraz's run and NCAA basketball during March Madness.

Major League Baseball was already named one of the fastest-growing brands of 2022 in an annual report from Morning Consult.

Judge was also one of the top athletes in the U.S., and the World Series-bound Phillies were the No. 1 sports team, in Google Trends' Year in Search 2022.