Blue Jays ratings soaring for Sportsnet, Buck Martinez continues to recuperate
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Over time, from a business standpoint it has made Canada's team the envy of many markets in Major League Baseball.
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And the Jays pre-All Star break surge that saw the team win 10 in a row to zoom up to first place in the American League East is the latest example of how that boom can take hold.
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Eight of the last 12 Jays games heading into the midsummer hiatus attracted audiences of more than a million viewers, a sure sign of the momentum at play. Of note, the number could have been higher given a couple of late starts in the Pacific time zone on the Jays last road trip.
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Not surprisingly, the biggest audiences came from the June 30-July 3 series against the New York Yankees, a four game sweep by the Jays that propelled them into the division lead.
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That series averaged 1.1 million viewers with the peak coming for the July 3 contest, an 8-5 Jays win that brought in a season-high audience of 1.3 million.
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With an engaged audience like that, the possibilities must be enticing — and profitable. It may just be coincidence, but the 30 per cent hike on Sportsnet+ subscriptions that kick in on Sept. 9 will hit loyal Jays viewers just when the division races heat up. At that point, public outrage could well be outweighed by momentum from the baseball team.
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For Sportsnet, which like the Jays is owned by Rogers, the timing of that ratings boon of the Yankees series was a perfect confluence. The NHL playoffs were well tucked to bed, freeing up multiple channels on the Sportsnet grid and July 1 free agency period also had quieted by the end of the series.
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And yes, having the Yankees in as an opponent just as the Jays winning streak was taking off also didn't hurt.
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For the season, Sportsnet is averaging 679,000 viewers for its Blue Jays broadcasts, a nice eight per cent bump from last year's numbers, with a total reach of 11.3 million Canadians.
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Barring a complete collapse, however, those comparative numbers, should widen noticeably given that it was at this time that the tank towards a last-place finish began in earnest for the Jays.
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With a captive audience for the next two months and the prospect of a captivating September race for the division title, we can expect audiences of a million plus to be the norm.
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It's early for Rogers and Sportsnet to get too bullish on what awaits, but there are certainly 2015 and 2016 vibes happening in terms of coast-to-coast excitement for the team. Mix in the possibility of some trade deadline acquisitions, a team that plays a more entertaining version of the sport and a serious playoff push and the TV numbers could be massive.
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