Originally posted Thursday, July 19, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc..com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
The Atlanta Braves, on top of the National League East for much of the season so far, have seen a marked increase in ratings as a result.
Its average household rating of 3.09 on Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast is up 51 percent year over year through 91 games. It’s the biggest growth among all NL teams and second highest in the majors.
Its prime-time ratings average of 3.29 (excluding day games) is tops among all cable networks in metro Atlanta and second among all networks, behind only WSB-TV.
Among 29 regional networks nationwide, the Braves are ranked 16th in ratings and 14th in total households. (The average number of households who watch a Braves game this season is 81,000.)
The St. Louis Cardinals had the highest prime-time rating at 7.26 while the Chicago White Sox had the worst at 0.79. The New York Yankees drew the most actual households at 293,000 while the smallest number of households has been the surprisingly robust Oakland Athletics at 18,000.
The highest rated Braves game in metro Atlanta this season was against the New York Yankees on July 2 with a 5.46 rating.
The Fox networks' social media platforms have also brought in huge gains for Braves content on Fox Sports South's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Engagement is up 554 percent and video views are up 134 percent versus the first half of the 2017 season, a news release said.
