Red Sox, NESN Post Huge Numbers For Exciting Series Opener Vs. Yankees

The Boston Red Sox knocked it out of the park Thursday night — in more ways than one.

Not only did the Red Sox steamroll the New York Yankees 15-7 in the teams’ series opener at Fenway Park. But NESN also posted a season-high average household rating with an 11.2 in the Boston DMA (nearly 1.4 million people watched the game across New England’s nine DMAs).

NESN’s Red Sox coverage dominated the Boston market in every key demographic, including Men 25-54. NESN posted a 6.5 rating in the demo in prime time* — 49 percent higher than the combined average of the four broadcast networks in Boston (WCVB-ABC, WBZ-CBS, WBTS-NBC and WFXT-FOX), which totaled a 3.4 in the demo during prime time*.

NESNgo streaming recorded 29,576 unique streams Thursday night. These additional viewers are not included in the Nielsen rating, which also excludes out-of-home measurement for regional sports networks.

Year to date, NESN’s average household rating for Red Sox games (6.5) is the second-highest in Major League Baseball and is double, triple or quadruple that of 16 of the other 28 RSNs in the country.

* = Prime time measured from 8 p.m. to the end of the Red Sox game (10:45 p.m.)
All figures sourced to Nielsen and NESN estimates.