Fox' coverage of last night's Yankees-Mets World Series
Game Four drew a 15.4/24 preliminary overnight Nielsen
rating, down 19% from a 19.1/29 a year ago for Braves-
Yankees on NBC. The rating marks Fox' highest preliminary
for the World series this year. Coverage of Game Three on
Tuesday night earned a 12.4/21 final national rating, down
26% from a 16.8 for Game Three last year, down 19% from a
15.4 for Yankees-Padres in '98, the last time the World
Series was on Fox, and down 21% from '97's 15.6 on NBC for
Marlins-Indians. The 12.4/21 rating brings Fox' three-game
World Series average rating to 12.1/21, down 21% from last
year's three-game average of 15.4/25 and down 10% from '98's
13.4/21. Fox N.Y. affil WNYW scored a 42.0/59 for last
night's game (Fox). On Long Island, Steve Zipay notes
WNYW's 41.8/59 three-game average for the World Series, and
adds that "all three games have been among the highest-rated
programs watched by New Yorkers" in the last ten years
(NEWSDAY, 10/26). But in DC, Lisa de Moraes writes,
"Overall, NBC beat Fox for the night -- the first time in
seven years another network has routed a World Series
telecast" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/26). An AP report indicates
that NBC's season premiere of "Frasier" on Tuesday drew an
18.9/28 from 9:00-10:00pm ET. During the same hour, MLB
produced a 12.4 rating. For the night, NBC averaged a 12.9
primetime rating, compared to Fox' 11.9 (AP, 10/25). The
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Cynthia Littleton notes that "Frasier"
won the night overall and drew its highest season-opener
rating in the show's eight-year history. "Frasier" also
"handily" won the night by drawing an 8.6/22 for viewers
aged 18-49 (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/26). In N.Y., Adam
Buckman notes that Tuesday's game was the lowest-rated Game
Three in the history of the World Series (N.Y. POST, 10/26).
THE RATINGS GAME: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes that
the Subway Series "is heading for the Manhattan ratings
shredder." Pilson Communications President Neal Pilson: "I
didn't think the ratings would be this low. In some manner,
like the last two years, the American public has basically
tuned out the World Series" (USA TODAY, 10/26). In Chicago,
Jay Mariotti wonders why Chicagoans are "tuning out" the
Series. Mariotti, on the Chicago market averaging about a
10 rating for the Series: "In a town that knows and likes
baseball, why not ignore the pinstripes and the dreadful
thoughts of 1969 and enjoy a series that has included three
close games and a fourth infamous for a peculiar interlude?
Because maybe, just maybe, we aren't such a great sports
town. Explain how a sports-yawning market like Los Angeles
does a 12.9 and baseball-less Washington does a 12.7.
Explain how Boston, the city that most detests New York,
does a 13" (SUN-TIMES, 10/26). Fox analyst Tim McCarver,
during last night's broadcast, after a replay was shown of a
ground ball going through the legs of Red Sox 1B Bill
Buckner in Game Six of the '86 Red Sox-Mets Series: "Our
ratings in Boston just dropped two points" (Fox, 10/25).
LOU'S VIEWS: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes that on
Tuesday, MLB "asked Fox to delay the start of the game by
about 15 minutes" in order to show player introductions, the
national anthem and the first pitch ceremony involving the
U.S. Olympic Gold-medal winning softball and baseball teams.
Fox Sports VP/Media Relations Lou D'Ermilio: "Baseball asked
us to do that once at Shea and once at Yankee Stadium."
Sandomir adds that "like other networks, Fox likes the 8 to
9 p.m. primetime window; to start earlier would mean
attracting fewer viewers over all, especially on the West
Coast." D'Ermilio: "If we wanted to maximize our ratings,
we'd start at 9 o'clock like the N.B.A. finals, the N.C.A.A.
championship game and 'Monday Night Football.'" Sandomir
notes that Fox "wants to win" prime time during its World
Series telecasts, "which would be less likely if it began
games at 7 or earlier" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26). Yankees manager
Joe Torre, on the 8:37pm ET start time of Tuesday night's
game: "It's terrible, it's nuts. ... It makes no sense. I
mean, it obviously makes sense to somebody, but not me. ...
People get paid a lot of money to make those decisions and I
am not one of them, so ..." (George King, N.Y. POST, 10/26).
A N.Y. TIMES editorial advocating daytime World Series
games: "The prime-time Series schedule means that late
October baseball is less public than it might be, and that
is a loss not only for baseball and its fans, young and old,
but for the city too" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26).
