The Braves' local TV ratings continue to improve as the team heads into the second quarter of the season in first place in the NL East.
The Braves’ series at Miami last week delivered the team’s two highest Nielsen ratings of the season, 3.64 for Thursday’s game on Fox Sports Southeast and 3.58 for Saturday’s game on Fox Sports South. Each of those games averaged an audience of more than 87,000 households in the Atlanta TV market.
For the season, the Braves are averaging a 2.61 rating (64,000 households) in the Atlanta market (through Sunday) -- up 27 percent from the same point last year.
The Braves are reassembling their TV audience after losing a lot of viewers during the team’s on-field teardown/rebuild.
Braves telecasts averaged audiences of 97,000 local homes during the 2013 season, when the Braves last won the NL East, but viewership dropped to an average of 28,000 homes in 2016, according to annual studies of MLB ratings by SportsBusiness Journal.
Braves viewership began to rebound last year with a full-season average of about 44,000 local homes per telecast, and the upward trend has accelerated with the team’s recent success.
There’s still a ways to go to get back to 2013 levels, but it appears many TV viewers are rediscovering the Braves.
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TODAY’S LEADOFF LINKS
> Braves manager Brian Snitker deserves to be viewed as more than a glorified temp, Jeff Schultz writes.
> After taking a 2-1 lead on a Ronald Acuna home run in the eighth inning, the Braves lost 3-2 when the Cubs scored two in the ninth Tuesday night at SunTrust Park. See David O'Brien's report here.
> The Hawks will select third in the NBA draft based on the results of Tuesday night's lottery. See Mark Bradley's blog here and Michael Cunningham's report here .
