Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals Total Live Viewership Up 26 Percent from Opening Night 2016
ESPN’s exclusive MLB Opening Night telecast, in which the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 4-3, was the company’s most-watched Opening Night game ever, according to Fast Nationals from Nielsen. It delivered an average total live audience (television + streaming) of 3,707,000 average viewers, up 26 percent from 2,947,000 total live viewers for last year’s New York Mets-Kansas City Royals World Series rematch.
On television, Opening Night generated 3,616,000 average viewers, up 25 percent from 2,896,000 viewers last year. Additionally, the Cubs-Cardinals matchup drew a record Opening Night streaming audience for ESPN. The game generated 20,457,000 total minutes streamed, 321,000 unique viewers and an average minute audience of 91,000 viewers. This was up 94 percent, 59 percent and 78 percent, respectively, from last year’s Opening Night streaming audience.
ESPN will exclusively televise the Chicago Cubs home-opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, April 10, at 8 p.m.
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Media contact: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @Ben_ESPN.
