Low WS Ratings

[Banedon]

Firm numbers for The Rangers vs. Cardinals face-off will be available in a couple hours. For the moment, the question doesn’t appear to be whether Game 1 dropped in the Nielsens compared to 2010, but whether it’s the least-watched Game 1 ever (2006′s Cardinals vs. Detroit is currently the record low)

 

Lesson learned? Nobody wants to watch the Cardinals in the WS.

[SouthSideRyan]

Contract the Cardinals.

[bcl412]

Contract the city of Saint Louis from earth.

[EpsteinCubs]

So much for Cardinals "nation"

[Derwood]

How can you expect the BFIB to watch the World Series when American Hoggers is on A&E....

[Clem Fandango]

Nobody wants to watch two small market teams with a fanbase exclusive to their own cities? Shocker.

[UMFan83]

I dont know if I'd call Dallas small market but I agree that their fan base doesn't expand past the metro area.

 

You'd think there'd be some national interest with St. Louis with Pujols there but I guess not.

[NonProfitCow]

2006 Game 1 is the lowest watched game 1, but both 2008 and 2010 had lower overall ratings than 2006.

[J.R.]

There actually is a national interest in the Cardinals. KMOX minted generations of St. Louis fans, and it shows up whenever they go on the road. Best "national" fanbase not centered in NY, Boston, Philly, Chicago or Atlanta.

 

DFW is a monster market (#5 DMA), and a player like Pujols on an established team like St. Louis should be able to drive Series ratings by himself.

 

MLB marketing was just awful for a long time. They allowed the Postseason - once appointment viewing for even the most casual sports fans - to be diminished, and that more than anything else has led to the "regionalization" of the game that is talked to death right now.

 

The realignment of the postseason schedule is a good start. The next step is to set the parameters for the next TV contract with the viewers in mind - earlier start times, the occasional daytime WS game, and most importantly, shorter commercial breaks in the postseason. I'm not holding my breath.

[Guest]

There actually is a national interest in the Cardinals. KMOX minted generations of St. Louis fans, and it shows up whenever they go on the road. Best "national" fanbase not centered in NY, Boston, Philly, Chicago or Atlanta.

 

DFW is a monster market (#5 DMA), and a player like Pujols on an established team like St. Louis should be able to drive Series ratings by himself.

 

MLB marketing was just awful for a long time. They allowed the Postseason - once appointment viewing for even the most casual sports fans - to be diminished, and that more than anything else has led to the "regionalization" of the game that is talked to death right now.

 

The realignment of the postseason schedule is a good start. The next step is to set the parameters for the next TV contract with the viewers in mind - earlier start times, the occasional daytime WS game, and most importantly, shorter commercial breaks in the postseason. I'm not holding my breath.

getting rid of the stupid blackout rules and marketing up and coming player would help too.

[EpsteinCubs]

This has actually been a good World Series to date. Haven't had a great World Series since 2001 and 2002.

[erik316wttn]

This has actually been a good World Series to date. Haven't had a great World Series since 2001 and 2002.

 

This entire postseason has actually been pretty darn good.

[rocket]

This has actually been a good World Series to date. Haven't had a great World Series since 2001 and 2002.

 

This entire postseason has actually been pretty darn good.

 

really? outside of the phils/cards series i don't think this has been a very good postseason to watch.

[erik316wttn]

This has actually been a good World Series to date. Haven't had a great World Series since 2001 and 2002.

 

This entire postseason has actually been pretty darn good.

 

really? outside of the phils/cards series i don't think this has been a very good postseason to watch.

 

Well, I've liked watching it anyway.

[17 Seconds]

i cant think of a single memorable moment from this postseason

[mul21]

i cant think of a single memorable moment from this postseason

 

The Game 5 Carpenter/Halladay duel was pretty good. But yeah, other than that, some sloppy baseball with a decent number of not very close games.

[Clem Fandango]

i cant think of a single memorable moment from this postseason

 

Nelson Cruz walk off grand slam?

 

To be expanded a bit, MLB record 6HR in one division series for Nelson Cruz?

[17 Seconds]

meh. nobody will remember that. maybe if they were down a run or two when he hit it.

[J.R.]

This has actually been a good World Series to date. Haven't had a great World Series since 2001 and 2002.

 

This entire postseason has actually been pretty darn good.

 

really? outside of the phils/cards series i don't think this has been a very good postseason to watch.

 

We had three Game 5 LDS matchups - all three were great games - and both LCS went six games. Both of the WS games thus far have been great. It has been a fantastic postseason by any measure.

[Guest]

There actually is a national interest in the Cardinals. KMOX minted generations of St. Louis fans, and it shows up whenever they go on the road. Best "national" fanbase not centered in NY, Boston, Philly, Chicago or Atlanta.

 

They're barely in the top half of road attendance.

[J.R.]

There actually is a national interest in the Cardinals. KMOX minted generations of St. Louis fans, and it shows up whenever they go on the road. Best "national" fanbase not centered in NY, Boston, Philly, Chicago or Atlanta.

 

They're barely in the top half of road attendance.

 

Yes, and in 2011 Cincinnati was #2 and San Diego was #5. The road totals in aggregate can be wildly influenced by factors like weather and scheduling, factors that hinder an accurate determination of how well a team's fanbase "travels."

 

When the Cardinals are good, you will see lots of red in parks across the country. Their relevance nationally - established ~70 years ago - is certainly graying, and they haven't showed an ability in modern times to really "take over" a park other than Wrigley and KC, but then I didn't put them into the top tier anyway.

[bcl412]

Do the Braves still have much of a national fan base? In the 90's they were popular as hell when they were good and on TBS all the time. I don't think I've seen a Braves fan for a long time and do they even play on TBS at all anymore?

[J.R.]

Do the Braves still have much of a national fan base? In the 90's they were popular as hell when they were good and on TBS all the time. I don't think I've seen a Braves fan for a long time and do they even play on TBS at all anymore?

No, but the old fans are still out there. WOR-TV and WTBS no longer contribute to their team's national fanbases, but the country is still peppered with Mets and Braves fans as a result of their respective forays into early cable TV. Once WGN stops airing the Cubs, the results of national Cubs telecasts will still echo far into the future.

[J.R.]

zap2it.com

 

Game 7 of the 2011 World Series posted a 14.7/25 household rating/share with 25.4 million viewers and is the highest-rated, most-watched game since 2004 when the Boston Red Sox ended their historic World Series drought with a massive 18.2/28 and 28.8 million viewers.

 

Just as impressive, Game 7 is the single highest-rated Friday night program in FOX history and stands as the highest-rated and most-watched Friday night program of any kind on any network since the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on NBC.

 

...

 

The complete 2011 World Series on FOX averaged a 10.0/16 national household rating/share and 16.6 million viewers, up an impressive +19% over last year's 8.4/14 (14.3 million viewers).

 

The demographic story is just as impressive as the 2011 World Series posted year-to-year double-digit increases across all key male and adult categories: Men 12-17 (3.0 vs. 2.3, +30%); Men 18-34 (5.2 vs. 4.2, +24%), Men 18-49 (6.1 vs. 5.2, +17%); Men 25-54 (7.3 vs. 6.3, +16%); Adults 18-34 (4.2 vs. 3.3, +27%); Adults 18-49 (4.9 vs. 4.0, +23%); and Adults 25-54 (5.8 vs. 4.8, +21%).

 

Last night's Game 7 broadcast opened with a 10.5 (17.9 million viewers) at 8:00 PM ET and grew steadily throughout the broadcast growing to a 14.2 (24.7 million viewers) at 9:00 PM ET, 16.1 (27.9 million viewers) at 10:00 PM ET, peaking at a 17.1 (29.7 million viewers) at 11:00 PM ET.

 

St. Louis led all markets with a sensational 52.7/80, peaking at a staggering 62.4/89 in the final quarter hour as David Murphy's fly ball to left landed in Allen Craig's glove sealing the Cardinals 11th World Series Championship. Dallas averaged a 40.3/61 for the night.

 

For the complete seven-game series, St. Louis averaged an amazing 47.2/67 while Dallas averaged a 38.0/57, up +22% over the 31.1/49 for last year's five-game average.

As expected, ratings improved once the series became competitive.

 

I believe this is the most successful postseason since the format changed in 1994. We saw 38 of 41 possible games played and great games were strewn throughout. This postseason actually lived up to the hype MLB sold with its commercials that featured the distant past as much as anything from the present day. They got loads of new material this year.

 

It's a start. It will take more than one great year to rebuild the general audience for this "tournament," and viewer-friendly changes like cutting the commercial breaks are still sorely needed.

 

Having said that, the potency of the affair will sell itself. The World Series routinely got great ratings in the past because there were lots of great World Series.

 

Game 7s were practically a birthright for people coming of age as television came of age. The drought started in the mid-1990s, just as the strike demolished the game's credibility:

 

Seven Game World Series in the Television Age

1952
1955
1956
1957
1958
1960
1962
1964
1965
1967
1968
1971
1972
1973
1975
1979
1982
1985
1986
1987
1991
1997
2001
2002
2011

[Clem Fandango]

I'm glad the ratings improved. Though I disliked the outcome of the series, I can't argue with the fact that it was probably really fun to watch if you're a neutral fan.

 

Anything that helps makes baseball more popular the better. I'm tired of seeing people watch NFL coverage on opening day