Forbes - "MLB sees record growth in 2016"

[Insun Park]

ain't no kids watching baseball except trump voter spawn
that shyt ain't hot in the street
the NBA will surpass the MLB soon enough, and when you factor in the global market it isn't even close

The Papis and Mamis love the MLB

 

[The Fire]

The Papis and Mamis love the MLB

Forgot about them but they don't got that Chinese bread

 

[Insun Park]

Forgot about them but they don't got that Chinese bread

No teams in Seattle or Vancouver. Chinese bread must not run that long then

 

[IllmaticDelta]

of course it can be sustained. The league is younger than it used to be and anyone can win.

the viewing demographic is old..not the actual players. Old white guys are where the ratings are coming from in large numbers

Fisher says the average baseball fan and TV viewer is over 55 years old. "That's a problem baseball needs to address or it won't have that much of a future," Fisher warned.

In short, baseball watchers are older than their counterparts. The median age of a baseball viewer is 53 years old, according to ESPN, compared to 47 in the National Football League. Separtately, the National Basketball Association's median fan age is just 37. Even more troubling, says Fisher, is that baseball is failing to connect with younger fans and bring in a new generation.


Aging baseball seeks its elusive 'cool factor'

 

[IllmaticDelta]

The Papis and Mamis love the MLB

mamis and papis love the nba more

and...the nba even got the Asians

Demo Reel, Part 3: Except For NBA, Not Much Diversity in Sports TV Audience

Sports Media Watch presents a three-part examination of sports viewer demographics. Today, race.

The NBA is a veritable melting pot compared to the other leagues when it comes to minority viewership. Of the events analyzed in the ‘demo reel’ series, the NBA Finals easily had the highest percentage of African American, Hispanic and Asian viewers.

African Americans made up between 32% and 38% of the audience for the NBA Finals, with viewership ranging from 5.1 to 8.4 million. Only the WNBA Finals had a higher percentage of African American viewership, ranging from 34% to 42% of the audience, and no other event attracted more than 3.5 million (NCAA Tournament title game).

Between 15% and 17% of the NBA Finals audience came from the Hispanic demographic, easily outpacing the World Series (8-10%). Hispanic viewership ranged from 2.1 million to 4.1 million; no other event examined earned more than 1.8 million (World Series Game 6).

Finally, Asian viewers made up a more modest 7-8% of the NBA Finals audience, but that was still ahead the other events analyzed. Only the U.S. Open singles finals had a comparable percentage of Asian viewers (6-7%). Between 1.0 and 1.9 million Asian viewers watched each game of the NBA Finals; the only other event to top one million viewers in the demo was the NCAA Tournament title game.

Overall, between 55% and 61% of the audience for the NBA Finals was from the African American, Hispanic or Asian demographic. The series averaged nearly 10.2 million viewers across the three demographics, compared to an average of 12.1 million for the other six events combined.

Other than the NBA Finals, the event with the largest minority audience was the NCAA Tournament Final Four, which averaged 4.2 million viewers across the three demographics. The Final Four had a healthy percentage of African American viewers (14-15%), but lagged behind among Hispanic (4-5%) and Asian (4%) viewers. The Bowl Championship Series also had solid African American representation (8-12%), but less impressive numbers among Hispanics (2-6%) and Asians (2-3%).

Of note, the Louisville/Michigan NCAA title game attracted more viewers in the African American, Hispanic and Asian demographics than the Alabama/Notre Dame BCS title game — even though the BCS game had nearly three million more viewers overall.

In an encouraging result for tennis, the U.S. Open singles finals had a strong percentage of African American viewers. For the women’s final, which featured Serena Williams, African Americans made up 28% of the audience. The demo made up 13% of the audience for the Rafael Nadal/Novak Djokovic men’s final, also a good percentage. The Hispanic and Asian demographics each made up just 6-7% of the audience, but that at least compares favorably to the Final Four and BCS.

The World Series was one of only two events in which the Hispanic demographic made up a larger percentage of the audience than African Americans, but the numbers were not exactly large — between 8% and 10%. African Americans made up just 6-7% of the audience for each World Series game, and Asians just 3%. Overall, the three demos made up just 16-20% of the audience for each game.

The Stanley Cup Final was an especially weak performer among minority viewers. African Americans made up between 1% and 5% of the audience for each game, Hispanics made up between 2% and 6%, and Asian viewers made up between 3% and 4%. Overall, the demographics made up just 6-13% of the audience for each game, making the Stanley Cup Final easily the least diverse sporting event examined.

Demo Reel, Part 3: Except For NBA, Not Much Diversity in Sports TV Audience — Sports Media Watch

 

[tremonthustler1]

One of the biggest things that holds MLB back in this country is that Americans aren't the best at it.

the viewing demographic is old..not the actual players. Old white guys are where the ratings are coming from in large numbers

Fisher says the average baseball fan and TV viewer is over 55 years old. "That's a problem baseball needs to address or it won't have that much of a future," Fisher warned.

In short, baseball watchers are older than their counterparts. The median age of a baseball viewer is 53 years old, according to ESPN, compared to 47 in the National Football League. Separtately, the National Basketball Association's median fan age is just 37. Even more troubling, says Fisher, is that baseball is failing to connect with younger fans and bring in a new generation.


Aging baseball seeks its elusive 'cool factor'

I'm talking about the players

 

[Juven]

i would hope so...
there are literally double the amount of games played in baseball and baseball parks are 2-2.5 times bigger than the average basketball arena as far as seat totals.
there are simply more opportunities to make money in baseball
i do think parity existing helps the game of baseball.

but @Malta told me there is parity in basketball

 

[Malta]

but @Malta told me there is parity in basketball

What's with yall Handegg fans and flat out lying about what I've said? Between you and @#StarkSet I'd ask you who hurt you, but I know it's me


Yall dudes stay with the Trump lies, it's not shocking since the average NFL fan is a conservative republican white male

 

[The War Report]

One of the biggest things that holds MLB back in this country is that Americans aren't the best at it.

I'm talking about the players

We've seen a huge surge in really good American baseball players though. Kershaw, Harper, Trout, Kris Bryant, Matt Harvey(pre TJS), Syndergaard, Andrew McCutchen, Corey Seager, Mookie Betts, Giancarlo Stanton, Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Sale, Bumgarner, Buster Posey.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

I'm talking about the players

Im saying that can't sustain due to depending to much on the older guard of fans

MLB is hanging on from old white men. The younger generation is moving on



MLB Struggling To Attract One Key Demographic

Fresh off a thrilling World Series in which TV ratings were up from last year, not everything is look good for Major League Baseball.

One key demographic -- children ages 6 to 17 -- is conspicuously losing interest in the sport. According to the Wall Street Journal, kids accounted for 4.3 percent of the average audience for the ALCS and NLCS this year, down from 7.4 percent one decade ago. Kids made up about 4.6 percent of the World Series audience. That figure is lower than the number of kids in the 6-17 range who watch the NFL, NBA, NHL and the English Premier League.

Making the situation more troublesome for MLB is that fewer kids are playing Little League. Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal notes that 2.1 million children played Little League baseball last year, down from 2.6 million in 1997.

The problem with the national pastime isn't just that it's past bedtime. More likely it is that baseball is slower and less action-packed than most other sports.

There is at least one positive sign for baseball. Bob Bowman, chief executive of MLB Advanced Media, told the Wall Street Journal that fans downloaded 10 million copies of MLB.com's mobile app this season. That's an increase of 3.3 million from last season. Many of those downloads are likely coming from kids.

"We know that with kids today, that is the best way to reach them," Bowman said. "And in some cases that's the only way to reach them."

Still, this downward trend feels ominous for many baseball enthusiasts. If fewer kids are following the sport now, what will viewership be like in 10, 20, 30 and 40 years?

and they had a perfect storm world series because of historical reasons.

 

[Juven]

What's with yall Handegg fans and flat out lying about what I've said? Between you and @#StarkSet I'd ask you who hurt you, but I know it's me


Yall dudes stay with the Trump lies, it's not shocking since the average NFL fan is a conservative republican white male

NBA has those Trump fans breh. Even the owners are trump fans. Remember when the owners kept their mouth shut about sterling all those years .


So there is no parity, right? So you acknowledge the league is trash

good to know

 

[ikbm]

NBA has those Trump fans breh. Even the owners are trump fans. Remember when the owners kept their mouth shut about sterling all those years .


So there is no parity, right? So you acknowledge the league is trash

good to know

having parity doesnt make a sport good or not

there is good basketball....all over the league...but unlike other sports talent shines more.
no extremely unlikely champions
no mediocre players being held in the same esteem as true elites
shout out to eli manning

 

[Malta]

NBA has those Trump fans breh. Even the owners are trump fans. Remember when the owners kept their mouth shut about sterling all those years


So there is no parity, right? So you acknowledge the league is trash

good to know

I'm not trying to hear what you think, the cold hard numbers vs your opinion.

A recent Experian Simmons study shows that this is true demographically. Of people who identified themselves as part of the NFL fan base 83 percent were white, 64 percent were male, 51 percent were 45 years or older, only 32 percent made less than $60,000 a year, and, to finish the point, registered Republicans were 21 percent more likely to be NFL fans than registered Democrats. Another factoid: NFL fans were 59 percent more likely than the average American to have played golf in the last year. You think the NFL is a lunch-bucket league? Not unless the lunch bucket is from Hermes.

 

[Insun Park]

One of the biggest things that holds MLB back in this country is that Americans aren't the best at it.

I'm talking about the players

White people are bad at sports

 

[IllmaticDelta]

Why are MLB's top stars so low on ESPN's list of world's most famous athletes?

What a striking thing it is that when you look at the ESPN World Fame 100 list, measuring who are the most famous athletes in the world, you do not find a single player of America’s game until No. 32.

Clearly, this is a crisis, and given that the list is formulated by looking at salary, endorsement money, social media followers and Google search popularity, it is a clear sign that the league is not doing enough to market its top stars and turn them into global phenomena. The question that must be asked is why the situation is this way?

Except, rest assured, nobody associated with the National Football League is fretting about Cam Newton placing on this list right behind tennis star Andy Murray. Just the same, it is not a concern for baseball that its top player on the list is Bryce Harper, at No. 71, with Mike Trout close behind at No. 73. The other baseball players on the list are David Ortiz (78), Robinson Cano (85), Miguel Cabrera (88), Masahiro Tanaka (89), Albert Pujols (93) and, somehow, Matt Kemp (100).


This is a global list and baseball, like football, is a sport without mass international reach. The NFL brand of football is only played here, but it dominates the American sports landscape and has for a long time now. Baseball still has a massive footprint in America, and while it is a bit more international, the scope of baseball fame outside North America is limited to Latin America and Japan, with a bit of interest elsewhere in Asia and Australia.

At the top of ESPN’s list are the brightest lights of the most popular sports in the world. The top 10 is soccer, basketball, soccer, soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, cricket, soccer, tennis.

There is truth to the idea that baseball does not market its stars effectively, but this list hardly is evidence of that. What it shows more is an interesting bit of timing for where baseball is right now.

The other thing about social media, though, is that the audience for it skews young, while baseball is more popular with an older demographic. That makes a difference that cannot be ignored, as can a facet of sports stardom that inherently hurts individual baseball players in many cases.

Athletes gain the most fame when they compete for championships. While Harper and Trout might be the best players in baseball, neither appeared in last year’s postseason and they have combined to play 12 postseason games — nine by Harper — all in the first round. How much more famous was Jeter because he won the World Series with the Yankees in four of his first five seasons, then went to two of the next three Fall Classics after that? How much higher was Newton on this list as a result of his appearance in the Super Bowl, the one NFL game with a truly global audience?

Baseball does have work to do to expand the reach of its top players and grow the game with a younger demographic. The ESPN list, however, should not set off any alarm bells on Park Avenue.

Why are MLB's top stars so low on ESPN's list of world's most famous athletes?