World Series Audience Finishes Down From '13, But Well Above Record Low In '12

The seven-game Giants-Royals World Series finished with an 8.2 rating and 13.8 million viewers, down 8% and 7%, respectively, from the six-game Red Sox-Cardinals series last year. However, Giants-Royals is up 8% and 9%, respectively, from the Giants’ sweep of the Tigers in ’12, which remains the least-viewed World Series on record. Giants-Royals ranks as the third-lowest World Series audience, ahead of '12 and the five game Phillies-Rays series in ’08. That drew an 8.4 rating and 13.64 million viewers. Wednesday night's Giants-Royals Game 7 finished with a 13.7 rating and 23.5 million viewers, down from a 14.7 rating and 25.4 million viewers for the last Game 7 in ’11 (Cardinals-Rangers on a Friday night). However, the game will deliver Fox the best primetime audience for the current TV season to date among all nets, as well as Fox’ best Wednesday night audience since May ’11. Meanwhile, Giants-Royals Game 6 finished with an 8.1 rating and 13.4 million viewers on Tuesday night. That game did not deliver an overall primetime win for Fox (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

CHART NOTES: * = Game 5 was suspended after 5 2/3 innings. Play was resumed on Wednesday night. The combined rating for both nights of Game 5 was a 9.6/14 (15.8 million viewers).

RATE OF RETURN: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Joe Flint noted the big audience for Game 7 "was more than enough to ensure that the 2014 edition of the Series would not be a complete strikeout with viewers." Despite drawing the third-lowest World Series viewership on record, Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks said the net's overall MLB business "has never been stronger” (WSJ.com, 10/30). In Boston, Chad Finn writes the "stale gripes that baseball is dying" is a "tired" notion. Fox and MLB "have to be satisfied" with these figures given the "current sports and media culture." As a TV show, baseball "is still a major draw" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/31).

CONTROL ISSUES: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes the result of Fox moving to a three-man booth of Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci this season was "predictable: too many voices saying too much." Verducci "is an astute observer, a reporter bursting with ideas and details." But when he "is a game analyst filling airtime with short bursts of information, his writerly elegance is diminished." Reynolds at his best "is reliable, but he needs to slow his excitable pace of speech to be heard better and to improve his focus." He also "says odd stuff that does not feel fully thought out." While they are a "friendly group, their chemistry needs time to develop, if it ever does." Meanwhile, the enthusiasm shown by Reynolds and Verducci for "just being at the World Series, as well as their over-the-moon passion for the concept of a Game 7, was excessive for men with decades of work in baseball" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/31). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes based on the "relentless-by-design commentary" of Buck, Reynolds and Verducci, as well as reporters Ken Rosenthal and Erin Andrews, "every pitch, walk, single, swing, foul ball and trip to the mound by a pitching coach was extraordinary, worthy of examination, debate, graphics, multiple replays, more discussion." In Game 7, as Royals LF Alex Gordon "drifted back to make a catch," Reynolds said, "What a great play!" Verducci on Saturday "classified a diving catch" by Royals CF Jarrod Dyson "as, 'A great baseball play'" (N.Y. POST, 10/31).

ERIN IN JUDGEMENT? In L.A., Tom Hoffarth writes Andrews in Game 7 again "was inserted into the post-game fray in attempt to either downplay" Rosenthal’s "journalistic questioning skills or promote the perceived fact that she can dance with any baseball star put in front of her and not worry about being judged." Hoffarth: "We can’t count the number of times Andrews reverted to the lazy 'take me through' non-questions. ... At least this time Andrews seemed to stick to her note cards and correctly ID the Giants’ owner, general manager and manager" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/31).