MLB All-Star Game attracts Betting Fans but not Viewers
--
July 15 - There's nothing as American as baseball, as millions of fans have always traditionally crowded around their sets during games, which is why the poor TV viewership figures during Tuesday's MLB All-Star game are surprising.
According to reports, Tuesday's coverage of the 81st MLB All-Star game on FOX drew an average 7.5 U.S. household rating along with an audience of just over 12 million viewers, which is the worst rating in the history of the franchise.
In the old days people used to look forward to the MLB All-Star game all year round, and if they weren't lucky enough to get tickets to watch the game live, were just as content to load up on beer, chips and dip to watch the game on TV.
But clearly those days are no longer. Last year's MLB All-Star game was watched by 14.6 million viewers, which itself marked an enormous 17 per cent drop in viewership figures compared with the year before, with a low 8.9 rating.
This year's MLB All-Star game 7.5 rating was the first time ever that it dropped below 8.0, which will no doubt have MLB and FOX executives scrambling to figure out what the problem is and, more importantly, how to fix it for next year.
According to comments on social networking site Twitter, many baseball fans were turned off by the overly long pre-game show (45 minutes) as well as the announcers, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. But commentator bashing is nothing new.
So the question is why are Americans losing interest in baseball and is there a more sinister reason for the sharp decline in viewership? At least MLB betting fans were still out en force. Incidentally, the National league won the game 3-0.
