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Ravens fans had no shortage of viewing options Thursday night for the preseason opener against the Washington Redskins.
In Baltimore, three network affiliate stations –WBAL, WBFF and WNUV – carried the game. But beyond the Ravens, who topped the Washington Redskins, 23-3, the big winner on broadcast TV here was WBAL with its hometown broadcast team of Gerry Sandusky and former Ravens coach Brian Billick in the booth.
WBAL drew an audience of 258,054 viewers, while WBFF was seen by 30,549, and WNUV had 7,626 viewers.
In the key advertising demographic of viewers ages 25 to 54, WBAL again dominated with 106,804 viewers.
So, why was the game on three network affiliates here?
WBAL has rights to the hometown broadcast of the Ravens preseason games, but the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which includes WBFF and WNUV, has rights to the Redskins games.
Lots of options, lots of TV viewers for a Thursday night in August.