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2003 MLB All-Star Game Analysis

It seems as if fewer people are tuning in to watch the Major League Baseball All-Star Game than in years past. Over the past five years, the All-Star Game has seen a downward trend in impressions, ratings and share. The 2003 All-Star Game, which earned a 9.5 rating on a HH level, tied with last year’s game as being the lowest rated in the past five years. This rating represents a 26% drop from the 1999 ballgame which had a 12.0 rating. It should be noted that this year’s game tied for the lowest in five years despite the fact that Major League Baseball added an incentive to this year’s game: home field advantage in the World Series to the league that won the game. Over the past few years, the game has also featured several future Hall of Famers (e.g. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens), but it appears that even the game’s marquee players cannot stop the viewership slide.

The story of ad-supported cable during the showing of the game is an entirely different story. Impressions, ratings and shares are all up. Impressions this year were 43.0 percent higher than in 1999, while ratings were up 33.0 percent and share was up 34.0 percent. Ad-supported cable, with the variety of programming that it offers, is attracting more and more viewers. It should also be noted that over the past few years, cable has increased its amount of original programming, and these shows often begin running during the summer. It seems as if these options are much more attractive to viewers than an all-star game, which features outstanding players, and is only played once a year.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ALL-STAR GAME ANALYSIS

		HHLD	HHLD	HHLD		HHLD	HHLD	HHLD
Year		AA(000)	US AA%	US SHR		AA(000)	US AA%	US SHR
2003	MLB All-Star Game	10156	9.5	17.1	Ad-Supported Cable	29568	27.7	51.2
2002	MLB All-Star Game	10046	9.5	17.2	Ad-Supported Cable	28296	26.8	48.6
2001	MLB All-Star Game	11198	11.0	19.1	Ad-Supported Cable	25135	24.6	44.8
2000	MLB All-Star Game	10167	10.1	18.0	Ad-Supported Cable	22542	22.4	40.6
1999	MLB All-Star Game	11890	12.0	22.0	Ad-Supported Cable	20700	20.8	38.3

NOTE: Ad-Supported Cable info is from 8:30 PM- 12:00 AM