Yankees give baseball ratings boostCourtesy
USA Today
(October 27, 2009) Fox got Tiger Woods in the World Series. Or at least the closest MLB can come to such a TV ratings-mover — the New York Yankees.Consider that the Yankees' ALCS series-clinching win over the Los Angeles Angels Sunday night outdrew an NFL game. That Yankees' victory drew a 11.4 overnight — translating to 11.4% of TV households in the 56 urban TV markets measured for overnights — as baseball eked out a ratings win over NBC's prime-time Arizona Cardinals-New York Giants game. (In New York, the Yankees drew 26.4% of households to the Giants' 9.3%.) And it's not like NBC had a dud: The 10.4 overnight for Arizona's 24-17 win was up 44% from NBC's comparable coverage of a Seattle-Tampa Bay NFL game last year that ran opposite MLB action. But with the Yankees — and a solid supporting actor in defending champion Philadelphia — be wary about claims that baseball could somehow be closing in on the NFL's on-air popularity. It's not. Consider that Fox's six-game ALCS averaged 6.5% of U.S. TV households. That's pretty good: Up 35% from Fox's comparable coverage of its five-game NLCS last season. But that 6.5% game average isn't up in the NFL TV stratosphere. Consider the national ratings the NFL's TV carriers are averaging so far: NBC at 11.9%, followed by Fox (10.8%), CBS (10.2%) and ESPN, whose 9.4% average rating doesn't even include viewers getting ESPN's simultaneous coverage on local TV stations of teams playing on Monday nights. And MLB's playoffs, predictably, seem a bit less mediagenic when the Yankees aren't in the picture. TBS averaged 3.8% of U.S. TV households for its five-game Philadelphia-L.A. Dodgers NLCS, down 17% from its coverage last year of the seven-game Tampa Bay-Boston ALCS. Still, Fox Sports president Ed Goren Monday said the network is about to enjoy "the biggest year-to-year improvement (in TV ratings) in Series history." Which might sound like a dramatic prediction, but really isn't. Last year, Fox's World Series lasted only five games and included small-market Tampa Bay. The result: Fox averaged an all-time Series low of 8.4% of U.S. TV households. (One more comparison if you aren't already dizzy: Fox's record-low Series average last year still managed to tie the 8.4% average rating for the L.A. Lakers win in last spring's NBA Finals.) Meaning? TV baseball is looking pretty strong these days. Just like TV golf is when Tiger Woods is in contention on Sundays. _______________________
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