Final ratings released yesterday showed that Game One
of the World Series received an 11.3/22, compared to last
year's 15.7/25 on Fox. Game Two earned a 15.0/24, topping
last year's 14.0/23. Last night's Game Three received a
preliminary overnight of 17.0/28 (THE DAILY). The average
for the first two games was 13.1/23, down from last year's
14.9/24. An NBC spokesperson: "[S]ince we're only two games
in (as of yesterday), there's no reason to make any kind of
evaluation now" (Michael Starr, N.Y. POST, 10/22). In N.Y.,
Scott Williams writes that the ratings "were still good
enough to help push NBC to an easy victory in the weekly
prime-time rankings" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/22).
REAX: In DC, Michael Wilbon writes under the header,
"Baseball's Fatal Distraction." Wilbon: "The TV numbers
show conclusively that more people stay home on a warm June
evening with the days growing longer to watch an NBA Finals
contest than tune in on a cool, already-dark autumn evening
to watch the World Series. Twenty years ago that was
unthinkable. ... [T]he fact that major league baseball folks
ignore all the warning signs and either aren't inclined or
don't know how to stop the bleeding almost ensures the
downward spiral will continue." Wilbon concludes: "I never
thought I'd live long enough to see the day that the World
Series would be, relatively speaking, passe" (WASHINGTON
POST, 10/22). Media Buyer Paul Schulman: "It's pathetic to
get an 11 rating. That's a rating for a pregame show, not a
World Series game." Pilson Communications President Neal
Pilson: "I thought the NBC factor would make a difference.
They didn't have to go up against their own programming.
This Series has no story line and no compelling face-to-face
matchups" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 10/22).
STEADY IN CANADA: In Toronto, William Houston writes
that TSN's audiences for MLB's Divisional Series games "were
slightly up from last year" and that ratings for the LCS
games "met expectations." TSN's numbers for the World
Series were not available (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/22).
