The 2021 Home Run Derby was a grand slam for ESPN. According to Nielsen, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN and ESPN2 was the most-watched since 2017 when 8.35 million fans tuned in. An average viewership of 7.1 million watched Pete Alonso of the New York Mets become the third player ever to win the event back-to-back times on Monday night.
Viewership reached a peak level at 8.69 million between 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET.
The main ESPN channel carried 6,358,000 viewers, up 19% from 2019, while ESPN2’s “Statcast” version of the event drew in 767,000 viewers, a 10% decrease from 2019.
According to Sports Media Watch, the 2021 Home Run Derby is the most-watched ESPN telecast since the College Football Playoff National Championship in January. The Home Run Derby barely edged out this year’s European Championship final between England and Italy, which averaged 6.49 million viewers.
When comparing all-star events, it was another big win for Major League Baseball after the NBA’s one-night-only event drew 5.94 million average viewers in March. Normally, the Derby would be compared to the skills night of NBA All-Star Weekend, but the league chose to hold the Slam Dunk Contest at halftime this year. No other major league has held an All-Star Game since the pandemic began.
It was a big win for ESPN’s second year broadcasting the MLB Draft as well. The first round got rolling Sunday night just before the start of Game 3 in the NBA Finals. It was the most-watched first-round ever on the network. ESPN’s coverage generated an average audience of 781,000 viewers, up 77% from 2020, the first year ESPN broadcasted the event.
MLB Network and ESPN split the duties last year and combined to draw in 1.03 million viewers in 2020. As the pandemic slowly starts to subside, executives are seeing some events eclipse 2019 ratings.