TV rating for Braves exhibition up sharply after long absence

072220 Atlanta: Atlanta Braves Freddie Freeman picks off Miami Marlins Jonathan Villar at first base on a throw from pitcher Kyle Wright during the third inning in an exhibition game on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 in Atlanta.   Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: Curtis Compton

Credit: Curtis Compton

072220 Atlanta: Atlanta Braves Freddie Freeman picks off Miami Marlins Jonathan Villar at first base on a throw from pitcher Kyle Wright during the third inning in an exhibition game on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 in Atlanta. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com

Fox Sports Southeast’s telecast of the Braves’ exhibition game against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night drew a 2.13 rating in the Atlanta TV market, a 209% increase over the average rating for the network’s three telecasts of Braves spring training games before the coronavirus pandemic shut down MLB in March.

Tuesday’s rating represented an audience of about 49,000 households in the Atlanta market on average. The audience peaked at about 61,000 homes near the end of the game.

It was the highest rating for a Braves exhibition game on Fox Sports South/Southeast since March 31, 2017, when a Braves-Yankees exhibition – the first game played by the Braves at SunTrust (now Truist) Park – drew a 3.31 rating.

Fox Sports Southeast said Tuesday’s game topped all cable programming and the prime-time programming on ABC and CBS in the Atlanta ratings.