Ratings for Braves telecasts on Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast declined 25% in the Atlanta TV market this season from 2019, the last full MLB season before this one.
The games averaged a 2.72 rating here this year, according to Bally Sports, down from 3.62 two years ago.
The decline came despite the Braves winning a fourth consecutive National League East championship.
This season’s ratings also were down 15% in the Atlanta market from an average of 3.2 for the 2020 season, which was limited to 60 games because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s viewership improved after the Braves began winning more frequently in the final two months of the season. For the 54 games televised on Bally Sports South or Southeast after the July 30 trade deadline, the average rating was 2.98 in Atlanta, still below the 2019 and 2020 levels. The 2019 ratings were the Braves’ highest since averaging a 4.1 rating in 2013.
Last week’s division-clinching sweep of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies was the Braves’ highest-rated series this season, averaging a 4.47 rating in Atlanta. The season’s highest-rated Braves game on the Bally networks was Sept. 29 against the Phillies (5.0 rating in Atlanta). The Sept. 30 division-clinching game against the Phillies drew the second-highest rating of the season (4.71).
The rating is the number of TV households, out of every 100 in the market, tuned in on average.
The Braves’ average rating of 2.72 this season translates to an average audience of about 72,000 households per game in the Atlanta market.
One factor affecting viewership: Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast aren’t available on streaming services YouTube TV and Hulu and satellite TV provider Dish Network because of carriage disputes between those providers and Bally Sports owner Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Bally Sports South and Southeast were formerly known as Fox Sports South and Southeast.
