World Series Report: Fox’s ratings still hot, A-Rod still not.
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Another tight pitching duel between the Philadelphia Phillies and The New York Yankees meant another night of strong ratings for Fox as Game 2 of the World Series drew 18.9 million viewers.
While that’s off from the 19.5 million that tuned in for Game 1, the drop is only 3% and Game 2 did almost 50% better than last year’s Game 2 between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which attracted only 12.8 million viewers.
The Yanks evened up the series at a game apiece, which is also good news for Fox, as a four-game sweep would have been bad news to their bottom line. Now the network will have at least five games. Fox pays Major League Baseball about $256 million a year for the rights, and most of that goes for the World Series and one league championship series.
So far, this series is on track to be the most-watched since the 2004 battle between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. That series averaged 25.4 million viewers. While that may be out of reach, this match may top the 20.1-million average that the 2003 series posted. That series was the last one featuring the Yankees, who lost to the Florida Marlins.
Fox is not wasting the opportunity. In Game 1 it ran a major promotion for the return of Jack Bauer in ‘24,’ and in Game 3 the cast of ‘Glee’ will sing the national anthem.
In Philadelphia, the game had a 42.5 rating while in New York, it had a 29.8 rating. The ratings represent the percentage of homes watching in a particular market. In other words, there’s a lot more to do in New York on a Thursday night than in Philadelphia. Hey, just kidding guys. No hate mail.
Fox wasn’t the only network with bragging rights Thursday night. The CW’s ‘The Vampire Diaries’ hit a series high in viewers with 4.2 million tuning in, and scored new highs with adults 18-34 and women 18-49.
Oh, and A-Rod still doesn’t have a hit.
-- Joe Flint
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World Series off to strong start
