Both NESN and YES Generate Great Ratings for Yankees-Red Sox Season Opener

To say that the ratings for last night’s Yankees-Red Sox MLB season opener were tremendous for their respective local rightsholders would be an understatement. They set records for NESN and YES. Let’s take a look at what both regional sports networks are saying. First, NESN received a 19.7 rating which is the highest in the network’s history which dates back to 1984.

NESN EARNS HIGHEST SEASON OPENER RATING IN NETWORK HISTORY WITH 19.7

Pre-Game Show Also Sets Record with 7.1 Rating

BOSTON – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, earned its highest season opener rating in network history last night with a 19.7 household rating (475,000 households) in the Boston DMA. The rating is the 5^th highest rating in NESN’s history and highest game rating since August 28, 2007. NESN’s Red Sox coverage was the top rated program in the Boston DMA in every major demographic category including an 11.3 rating for women 25-54. 

The previous best season opener rating was set last year when NESN earned a 17.9 household rating for the Red Sox 5-3 opening day victory over Tampa Bay on April 6, 2009.

NESN also set an opening day record by earning a 7.1 rating for the network’s pre-game show Red Sox GameDay Live. The previous best opening day pre-game rating was a 4.3, also recorded on April 6, 2009.

YES Network has a statement saying last night’s game was the 2nd highest rated game in YES’ history and the most watched live sporting event on a New York regional sports network. Quite impressive.

The YES Network’s Yankees-Red Sox season-opening telecast last night generated a 10.01 average TV household rating (1,085,000 average Total Viewers), the second-highest-rated and second-most-watched regular season live sporting event ever on a New York regional sports network. It is second only to the YES Network’s April 3, 2005 Yankees-Red Sox telecast (also the season-opener), which generated an 11.64 average TV household rating (1,213,000 average TV viewers). Last night’s YES Network telecast peaked at a 12.46 TV household rating (1,388,000 average Total Viewers) during the 8:45-9:00 quarter-hour.

YES’ Yankees Pre-Game Show last evening (7-8 pm) did a 2.22 average TV household rating, YES’ post-game show averaged a 2.13 TV household rating, and an encore presentation of The Joe Girardi Show airing at 1 am this morning (immediately following the post-game show) did a 1.31 average TV household rating.

Source: Nielsen Media Research, Live+SD Data

Haven’t heard how the game did on ESPN2. When I do, I’ll post it.