First tournament since 2017 had 63 media partners
The 2023 World Baseball Classic was broadcast in 163 territories through 63 media partners.
IMG handled distribution of the event outside of the US, Japan, and Puerto Rico, with BT Sport holding the rights in the UK and Ireland. It was broadcast in 13 languages around the globe.
The last tournament was held in 2017, and there were viewership gains in multiple territories when compared to that event. Taiwan (151% increase), Mexico (103%), and Canada (44%) were the highest, with Korea (36%) and Puerto Rico (11%) also registering growth despite being locations where baseball is already a mainstream sport.
In addition, the average daily engagements per post more than doubled (102% increase) during the Semifinal and Final rounds for the World Baseball Classic social media account across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The next World Baseball Classic will take place in 2026, and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said of its comparisons with the World Series: “I don’t foresee or actually want the tournament to be bigger than our traditional format. The World Series is always going to be the World Series. But I don’t see it as an either-or proposition. This is a different kind of competition. We do it to grow the game and internationalize the game.”
No comments yet