We still haven't seen the final numbers, but if the results from the fast national overnight ratings hold up, last night's game two of the Philadelphia Phillies vs. The Tampa Bay Rays was the lowest-rated and least viewed World Series Game EVER.
Last night's game had an 8.1/13 (household rating/share) and was watched on average by 12.78 million. The previous record low game was game one of the 2006 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals that aired on a Saturday and drew an 8.0/15 and 12.840 viewers. I'm hoping for MLB, the Rays, Phillies and even Fox that they find another couple of tenths of a ratings point and 61,000 viewers when the final numbers come in.
The difference with the Detroit/Cardinals series in 2006 is that at least the Sunday night game two drew 18.165 million. Either way, last night's game will be the lowest watched game two of the World Series ever.
We're not terribly surprised by the numbers as we'd predicted that it was quite likely this would be the least-watched World Series ever. At this point it seems like the only thing that will stop that is going seven games and getting decent numbers for games six and seven. The aforementioned Detroit/St. Louis series in 2006 is currently the least viewed, averaging 15.812 million for five games.
Through two games, Rays/Phils is averaging 13.7 million.
I have to say that this World Series surpassed expectations. I was actually expecting this World Series to draw between 8-9 million viewers through the first two games. So far for this series to have drawn over 9 million viewers should make FOX and the advertisers happy. The games still skew very young in the demo so that’s a plus. Getting 12-14 million viewers is not easy now in days even for sports that’s why the NFL ratings are so amazing for the regular season b/c other sports like the NBA and NHL depend on the playoffs to get high numbers.
I wouldn’t compare this World Series to any past ones. Its a series within itself that’s still drawing well beyond expectations in today’s age where ratings are declining every year.
Unlike the 2006 WS this one is actually more competitive inside of the games and will grow big time when they get to Game 6 or 7.
Tampa Bay is a franchise that has never been established locally or nationally, but this year is changing all of that and it could baseball’s solution if they become a dynasty to not have to rely on the Red Sox, Yankees, or Cubs for ratings. This is a great young team to watch so it.
The question is how else do you think the MLB powerhouses got started?
The only difference is Tampa Bay started out late while the league was already established for over 100 years.
Hot Pocket, for what it’s worth, it’s done bigger numbers than I expected too. Sans the Red Sox, Yankees, or Cubs I think this is as good as, or better than Fox could’ve hoped for. I hope it gets to 7 games or at least gets back to Tampa. If I were the Phils, I’d have to think about pitching Cole H. in game 4, especially if they don’t win game 3.
Robert, I would do the same thing if I was the Phillies and get him in game 4 if Moyer can’t win Game 3.
I really want to see this series reach Game 7 as I know that Tampa crowd is going to be amazing for it.
Aren’t baseball ratings down overall? And the networks as well? I know the World Series has always been played in October, but with the country enthralled in college and pro football right now, watching baseball is kind of like watching pro basketball playoffs in June which is when pro basketball finally ends its long season. I’m sure the two teams involved this year play a role in the ratings. Not like when New York is in it. Still, I think it is intriguing that the Rays finally have made it to the big game. I guess the rest of the country doesn’t agree.
I have also always wondered how the ratings are calculated on the West Coast. Does the Fox affiliate include the ratings for local programming when a live sporting event is aired earlier or do they include the ratings from 5pm to 7pm or does it not count at all?
the “final” numbers are adjusted for timezone. the 12.777 million was in fact the final average viewing, adjusted for timezones for the 190 minutes of actual game (8:26-11:36pm on the east coast, 5:26-8:36 on the west coast, etc.)
I can pretty much guarantee that Saturday’s game will have an audience lower than Thursday’s. Saturday games early in a World Series (as opposed to a potential final game) were the lowest rated games in every series since 2001. However, except for 2007, the first game in the Series was always played on a Saturday so except for 2007 it’s not entirely apples to apples.
Here was the trend from 2007:
GAME# DAY # of Viewers
1 Wed (Eve) 16,897,000
2 Thu (Eve) 16,950,000
3 Sat (Eve) 14,055,000
4 Sun (Eve) 20,946,000
I”m going to guess below 11 million for Saturday nights game.
the best thing that could happen for Fox is if tomorrow night’s game gets rained out, but it looks like the rain will clear before the game.