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Early Bird Special: Fox Sees Best World Series Game 2 Rating Since '09 Despite 7:00pm Start

Fox last night earned an 11.3 overnight rating for the Cubs' 5-1 win over the Indians in Game 2 of the World Series, marking the highest-rated Game 2 since '09, when the net drew a 13.6 overnight for Phillies-Yankees. Last night's rating also came despite the game being played an hour earlier -- 7:00pm ET -- in an attempt to avoid rain. Cubs-Indians Game 2 is up 22% from a 9.3 for last year's Royals-Mets Game 2, also on a Wednesday night, and up 28% from an 8.8 for Giants-Royals Game 2 in '14. Cleveland drew a 38.9 local rating for Game 2, while the Chicago market earned a 35.4. Last night's contest gave Fox a primetime win among all broadcast nets (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).

LEADOFF HOME RUN: Fox finished with 19.4 million viewers for the Indians’ 6-0 win over the Cubs in Game 1 on Tuesday night, the most since 19.5 million watched Game 1 of Phillies-Yankees Game 1 in ’09. Viewership for Cubs-Indians Game 1 is also up 30% over 14.9 million for Royals-Mets last year. Viewership for Game 1 peaked at 22.7 million between 9:15-9:30pm (Carpenter). MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he was very satisfied with the Game 1 audience. Manfred: "We define our postseason challenge as finding narratives that take our tremendous season-long, local audiences and draws them into the postseason. I think that narrative surrounding 68 years in Cleveland (without a title), and 108 years in Chicago is exactly the recipe we need" (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer). On Long Island, Neil Best writes the "impressive start" to the World Series "bodes well for Cubs vs. Indians to become the first Series to average more than 20 million viewers" since the Red Sox' sweep of the Cardinals in '04. A six- or seven-game series "would help achieve that goal" (NEWSDAY, 10/27).

SELLING TO THE MASSES: AD AGE's Anthony Crupi noted Tuesday's broadcast "featured 93 paid commercial messages and seven promotional spots for Fox and FS1." Near the end of the pregame show, Fox "aired a 90-second trailer for its upcoming thriller '24: Legacy.'" Among the most visible advertisers in Game 1 were "official pre-game sponsor Chevrolet, which also aired three 60-second spots." Other high-profile advertisers "included Verizon, AARP, Honda, Cisco, Best Buy and DirecTV" (ADAGE.com, 10/26).

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