2017 World Baseball Classic sets New Highs
The 2017 World Baseball Classic set records for attendance, television ratings, digital consumption and merchandise sales.
ATTENDANCE
- The World Baseball Classic set an event attendance record by drawing 1,086,720, marking the first time the event has surpassed 1 million. The 2017 attendance marks a +23% increase over the 2013 event, which drew 885,212.
- With a crowd of 51,565, the 2017 Championship game at Dodger Stadium was the most-attended game of the tournament.
- The 2017 event registered the two most-attended pools in the event’s history, with the Second Round in Tokyo drawing 209,072 and the First Round in Tokyo reaching 206,534.
TELEVISION
- The last game drew the largest ever U.S. audience for a World Baseball Classic game with 3.1 million viewers across MLB Network, ESPN Deportes and the Spanish language simulcast on ESPN2.
- In Puerto Rico, 70% of televisions that were on last night were tuned into the World Baseball Classic Championship game.
DIGITAL CONSUMPTION
- MLB.TV subscribers in the United States consumed a record 70 million minutes of live World Baseball Classic games on all supported streaming platforms, including the MLB.com At Bat app, throughout the 2017 tournament. Overall, World Baseball Classic video views across all MLB.com owned and operated platforms saw an increase of +59% over the 2013 tournament.
MERCHANDISE SALES
- World Baseball Classic merchandise sales at MLBShop.com increased +50% over sales in 2013.
- Sales of World Baseball Classic merchandise at host venues was the largest in the event’s history with an increase of +15% over the previous tournament.
- The First Round in Tokyo had the largest venue concessions sales in event history.
Source Link: http://www.mister-baseball.com
It’s been awesome to watch! They can’t do away with it now, right? I feel like this was a massive success this year. But combined with baseball returning to the Olympics, it could’ve been bad news for the WBC AND international baseball competitions if this year wasn’t a success. However, TV ratings for this year’s World Baseball Classic have increased as well. Also I think one mark of progress for the WBC might be if they can get an American corporate sponsor next time around.