Fox sells out all ad inventory for MLB triple-header Saturday: ‘Tsunami of investment’

Fox has sold out all of its advertising inventory for its first-ever MLB daytime triple-header on the broadcast network on Saturday, with a fourth night game on cable network Fox Sports 1 also sold out, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

The strong sales are seen as a welcome surprise, as many media companies have struggled during the coronavirus pandemic due to considerable drops in revenue from advertisers, resulting in furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts.

“Our baseball inventory 10 days ago just shot off the shelf when people realized that we could put a product on the field,” Fox head of sports sales, Seth Winter, told Bloomberg. “We just had a tsunami of investment.”

MLB will open its season Thursday night when the New York Yankees travel to Washington on Thursday night to take on the world champion Nationals, but with no fans in the stands due to the pandemic.

Overall, 90 percent of the 60-game regular season has been sold, according to Winter, underscoring how hungry sports fans are for baseball and other professional sports to return with entertainment options outside the home still limited.

According to Kantar Media, the national baseball advertising market generated $584 million in revenue in 2019.

Fox, along with ESPN and Turner, own national rights to broadcast select games, with local and regional networks broadcasting the rest.

The NBA is set to restart its season on July 30, while the NHL is slated to be back on the ice on Aug. 1.