Scary numbers for Major League Baseball.

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2008/10/scary-numbers-for-major-l...ue-base

Friday, October 31, 2008
Scary numbers for Major League Baseball.
On Halloween night, here are some numbers that should put a scare into
Bud Selig:

FOX Saturday Baseball drew the lowest ratings ever for a regular
season MLB package on broadcast (2.0 rating for 26 telecasts).
The NLCS was the least viewed League Championship Series ever on
broadcast (4.8 rating, 7.5 million viewers).
The ALCS and NLCS were the second and third least viewed League
Championship Series in baseball history (7.4 and 7.5 million viewers,
respectively).
Despite being the highest rated and most viewed Major League Baseball
telecast ever on cable, Game 7 between the Rays and Red Sox was the
lowest rated, least viewed Game 7 in baseball history (7.9 rating,
13.4 million viewers).
Thanks to a lengthy rain delay, Game 3 between the Phillies and Rays
became the first World Series game to ever draw fewer than 10 million
viewers (6.1 rating, 9.8 million). The 6.1 rating for Game 3 of the
World Series was lower than the rating for this year's Pro Bowl (6.3).
For the first time ever, not a single baseball game -- regular season,
All Star or otherwise -- drew a double digit rating.
The World Series was the lowest rated, least viewed ever (8.4, 13.6
million), marking the fifth time this decade the Fall Classic has
drawn record low ratings (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008).
This year marks only the third time ever that the NBA Finals drew a
higher rating than the World Series in the same calendar year. The two
prior occasions involved Michael Jordan (1993 and 1998).

On the bright side:


Game 7 of the ALCS was the highest rated, most viewed telecast of any
kind in TBS history, and is the second-most viewed telecast of the
year on cable. Game 6 was the third most-viewed playoff game ever on
cable.

The 3 1/2 inning conclusion of Game 5 of the World Series drew 19.8
million viewers, proving that under the right circumstances, baseball
can still draw a massive prime time audience.
The 8.4 record low rating for the World Series is still 35% higher
than the lowest rating for the NBA Finals (6.2, 2007), and 171% higher
than the rating for this year's Stanley Cup Finals (3.1 on NBC).