Home Run Derby enjoys 5% viewership bump, but ratings still lag

The 2025 Home Run Derby saw a 5 percent increase in viewership, though ratings for the event were still below most years since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday night’s event, won by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh over Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, averaged a 2.7 rating and drew 5.73 million viewers. That is up from the 5.45 million who tuned in for Teoscar Hernandez’s victory last year.
However, both of those were down from the previous three years. The 2021 event won by the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso drew 7.13 million viewers, followed by 6.88 million for Juan Soto winning the 2022 event while still with the Washington Nationals. Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the following year, drawing 6.11 million viewers.
This year was the second-least watched Derby since 5.524 million viewers watched Giancarlo Stanton win in 2016 while with the Marlins, according to the Sports Business Journal. The 2024 Derby was the least-watched during that span, but it also competed with the Republican National Convention.
Monday night’s Derby peaked at 6.31 million viewers at 9:30 p.m. ET and was the most-watched program of the day across all of broadcast and cable television. ESPN2’s “StatCast” version of the event was watched by 499,000 people.
For comparison, this year’s NBA All-Star Game and the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games each averaged 4.7 million viewers — and Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game is expected to easily outpace both.