Major League Baseball is vastly popular with advertisers on regional sports networks. Here is MLB's biggest untold story and why it's far from 'dying.'
For years, pundits of Major League Baseball have said that the decline in national ratings and viewership shows that the league is “dying” with fans. But upon closer inspection, the league is thriving in an area few have paid attention to: advertisers. Here’s how MLB’s regional sports networks are thriving.
If the description sounds odd, it isn’t. The biggest national story for Major League Baseball may be how it thrives regionally. Gone are the days of the league owning the country with national broadcasts. That’s now the domain of the National Football League. But, when you look at why, it’s not all about the game’s decline, and more about how fans can consume the product.
Starting in the late ‘80s and through to the early 2000s, the number of games that became available through regional sports networks increased. Now, nearly every game can be seen on regional networks. That has moved fans to become increasingly focused on their home team, rather than being fans of MLB in general. A Yankees fan is more interested in seeing games on YES Network than a Cubs-Cardinals game on a national broadcast.
In this mix are the advertisers. In talking with Home Team Sports, the sales agency owned by Playfly Sports, that represents all the regional sports networks, MLB is consistently popular with advertisers due to the large inventory of games, and how ratings on the RSNs consistently win in the home markets. For national advertisers, they can go to Home Team Sports and select to advertise on more than one regional sports network, and with it, target one or more regions that multiple RSNs cover.
“More people will consume MLB games on the regional sports networks over the next six months than the top 30 entertainment programs, and any other sports by a sanctioning body – whether that’s PGA golf, NASCAR, or even early season football – they don’t compare in total scale. When you include the audience size and type, MLB via the RSNs is attractive to marketers,” said Craig Sloan, chief operating officer of PlayFly Sports. “It’s still family viewing. It’s still appointment television.
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