​Fox’s primetime TV turnout for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game was not directly assisted by its afternoon World Cup semifinals broadcast, given the time gap between events, but the network still managed to deliver its largest audience for the baseball showcase in eight years.According to Nielsen Big Data + Panel estimates, the American League’s 4-0 victory on Tuesday night averaged 8.79 million viewers, good for a 21% improvement versus Fox Sports’ year-ago turnout (7.19 million). The Fox broadcast flagship accounted for 98.6% of the overall ASG deliveries, with an average draw of 8.68 million, while the remaining portion tuned in via Fox Deportes.Two-and-a-half million of those Fox viewers were members of the 18-49 demo, up 30% compared to last year’s 1.92 million.All told, Tuesday night’s audience was the largest for an ASG since 2018, when Fox averaged 8.69 million viewers. The last time Fox broke the eight-figure mark for MLB’s annual exhibition was in 2015, when the AL’s 6-3 defeat of the NL averaged 10.9 million viewers. ABC retains bragging rights for the most-watched ASG of the modern Nielsen era (1987-present), as the 1988 edition at Riverfront Stadium averaged a staggering 29.5 million viewers.Since the century began, the top ASG draw was Fox’s 2001 broadcast, which scared up just over 16 million viewers.Fox’s 2026 gains were made in the absence of superstars Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, who over the last several years have been baseball’s biggest draws. The Midsummer Classic’s leading vote-grabber, with 3.34 million Phase 1 ballots cast in his favor, Ohtani last week opted out of the trip to Philadelphia in order to rest a balky left knee. Judge has been sidelined with a fractured right rib since June 5, although the Yankees believe the outfielder may have broken the bone as far back as late April.Per preliminary Nielsen data, Tuesday afternoon’s World Cup semifinal match between Spain and France averaged 11.5 million viewers on Fox, peaking at 15.6 million in the 4:45 p.m.-5 p.m. EDT quarter-hour. While that’d make for an enviable lead-in and Fox made sure to promote the ASG during the FIFA broadcast, the baseball exhibition didn’t officially begin until 8:19 p.m. EDT.In other words, an interval of more three hours separated the two sporting events, during which time Fox threw to its local affiliates. As such, Fox’s presentation of Spain’s 2-0 win cannot be characterized as a true lead-in.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMore from Sportico.comTuesday night’s game drew a 4.38 household rating, good for an overall reach of 5.61 million homes. Per Nielsen, 16% of all TVs in use during the broadcast were tuned to Fox.As with all ratings reports, it’s worth noting that Nielsen this past fall completed a significant upgrade of its audience-tracking methodology, integrating “Big Data” deliveries via smart TVs and set-top boxes with its traditional panel measurement. The company also expanded its out