Ratings from the 2018 MLB season show that the Padres have lost nearly half their prime-time TV audience in the past three seasons.

According to Nielsen ratings cited by Forbes, the average Padres telecast in prime time this season drew a 2.30 rating on Fox Sports San Diego, equivalent to about 23,000 households in San Diego County.

In 2015, according to Forbes, an average prime-time telecast earned a 4.13 rating, equivalent to about 44,000 homes. That was the ninth-highest rating among the 29 MLB teams in the United States. This year’s mark tied for 22nd.

The largest season-to-season decline actually came in 2016, when the prime-time rating dropped 36 percent to 2.59. It rose slightly to 2.66 in 2017 but fell by 13 percent this season.


During that same time period, prime-time ratings across Major League Baseball stayed about the same. They were up 1 percent in 2016, down 6 percent in 2017 and up 2 percent in 2018.

Even taking 2015 out of the equation, since it was a season of great hype for the Padres that began with the team staying within about six games of first place until July, ratings are still down 31 percent from a 3.33 prime-time mark in 2014. That was the first year Padres telecasts were available throughout the county on FSSD (which had carriage issues in 2012-13).

The change in attendance has not been as drastic. The average crowd this season at Petco Park was 26,772, down about 12 percent from 2015 (average of 30,367) but only 1 percent from 2014 (27,103).

The Padres won 77 games in 2014, their highest win total since 2010. Since then their season win totals have been 74, 68, 71 and 66.


One bright spot for the Padres and FSSD: Prime-time telecasts of the team still rank first in the San Diego market among all cable networks in prime time and third among all TV networks.


Sports Videos

jay.posner@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutposner