All-Star Game was Fox’s highest rated telecast since the 'American Idol' season finale in May.
On the heels of reupping its Major League Baseball contract for seven years, Fox Sports delivered the All-Star Game's best numbers in four years on Tuesday.
In an especially good sign, the Nielsen gains were primarily driven by young men in top markets. Ratings were also strong in host city Pittsburgh.
According to Nielsen, the American League's victory over the National League on Tuesday dominated the night with a 4.6 rating/14 share in adults 18-49 and 14.42 million viewers overall -- Fox's highest-rated telecast since the "American Idol" season finale on May 24.
Game was up 7% year to year in the demo (from 4.3) and 17% in overall audience (from 12.3 million), drawing the largest crowd for the annual event since 2002 (14.7 million).
Driving up the demos was the game's perf in adults 18-34 (4.5/14), which rose 15% year to year to a five-year high. The gains in men 18-34 were a heftier 17% (6.2 vs. 5.3).
Game (8:39-11:19 p.m. ET), which was decided by a two-run, ninth inning rally by the American League, peaked with a 23 share in key male demos (and 15.1 million viewers overall) in its final half-hour.
Among all sporting events this summer, the average aud of 14.4 million for the All-Star Game lags only last Sunday's World Cup final (17 million combined on ABC and Univision) and the deciding Game 6 of the NBA Finals on ABC (15.7 million)
The Midsummer Classic remains the most popular all-star game for any major team sport, outdrawing the most recent contests for the NBA (7 million) and NFL (6 million) combined.
Highest local metered-market household rating/share came from host city Pittsburgh (22.9/34), which saw the top rating for a host market since Milwaukee earned a 24.6/39 in 2002. Top markets New York (13.3/22) and Los Angeles (9.4/19) were up 19% and 34%, respectively, vs. last year's game.
Fox's strong showing came one day after ESPN logged big numbers for its annual "Home Run Derby" contest (2.6/8, 6.79m), which was cable's top show of the night and also beat out ABC and NBC in demos from 9 to 11.
Elsewhere Tuesday, NBC had the top show in key demos with "Last Comic Standing" (3.3/9 in 18-49, 7.58 million viewers overall). Comedy skein was on par with its most recent perf despite additional competish from baseball and the first Tuesday seg for CBS' "Rock Star: Supernova" (2.7/8, 6.27m).
"Rock Star" was up vs. its first performance seg last Wednesday (2.2/7 in 18-49, 5.30m) thanks to its lead-in from "Big Brother: All-Stars" (2.8/9 in 18-49, 7.36m), which was on par with its season preem last Thursday. "Big Brother" was second to Fox's baseball coverage in most categories and led in key femme demos.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com