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Winner Winner: Fox Gets Biggest MLB Game Audience Since '91, Best World Series Since '04

Fox averaged 23.4 million viewers for the seven-game Cubs-Indians World Series, the best average for the Fall Classic since the Red Sox swept the Cardinals in ’04 (25.4 million viewers). It is also the first World Series to average over 20 million viewers since the Red Sox ended their 86-year title drought in ’04. Fox’ average for this year’s series is up 60% from the five-game Royals-Mets World Series last year and up 70% from 13.8 million viewers for the seven-game Giants-Royals matchup in ’14. Cubs-Indians saw gains among younger viewers, including those ages 12-17, where Fox had its best audience since Red Sox-Rockies in ’07. Fox’ audience still remained slightly older compared to some other properties, as the audience among males 18-34 for the World Series was 39% lower than what the Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals drew last season (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor). Fox said that the World Series ratings "propelled the network into first place" among adults 18-49 for the current TV season. But ADWEEK's Jason Lynch noted that number will "begin to erode, now that baseball has ended" (ADWEEK.com, 11/3). 

WORLD SERIES AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX
YEAR
GAMES
RATING
VIEWERS (000)
MATCHUP
'16
7
13.1
23,400
Cubs-Indians
'15
5
8.7
14,699
Royals-Mets
'14
7
8.2
13,825
Giants-Royals
'13
6
8.9
14,940
Red Sox-Cardinals
'12
4
7.6
12,660
Giants-Tigers
'11
7
10.0
16,645
Cardinals-Rangers
'10
5
8.4
14,268
Giants-Rangers
'09
6
11.7
19,387
Yankees-Phillies
'08^
5
8.4
13,635
Phillies-Rays
'07
4
10.6
17,123
Red Sox-Rockies
'06
5
10.1
15,812
Cardinals-Tigers
'05
4
11.1
17,162
White Sox-Astros
'04
4
15.8
25,390
Red Sox-Cardinals
         

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

I LOVE THE '90s: Fox finished with 40.05 million viewers for Cubs-Indians Game 7, marking the best audience for any MLB game since Twins-Braves World Series Game 7 drew 50.34 million viewers in ’91. Wednesday night’s game also is up 70% from Giants-Royals Game 7 in ’14 (23.52 million viewers). The audience for the Cubs-Indians finale is higher than the Academy Awards the last two years (34.43 million and 37.26 million viewers, respectively). Fox on Wednesday night peaked with 49.9 million viewers from 11:30-11:45pm ET, and is expected to deliver the net’s best Wednesday primetime average on record. After the game, more viewers flipped over to ESPN than FS1. The late-night edition of "SportsCenter," which began at 1:08am, drew 1.09 million viewers with Thunder-Clippers serving as a lead-in. FS1's postgame coverage from 1:32-2:17am averaged 375,000 viewers. Meanwhile, THE DAILY leading into Game 7 asked experts to make audience guesses for Game 7. ESPN Senior VP/Global Research & Analytics Artie Bulgrin was right on the money, saying the finale would draw 40 million viewers (Karp). On Long Island, Neil Best writes Game 7 was an "extraordinary achievement" for MLB, "given the radically changed media landscape compared to 25 years ago" (NEWSDAY, 11/4).

HISTORICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks said of the World Series audience numbers, "It's always great to have a story that transcends the sport itself. It exceeded even our expectations." The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Joe Flint notes Fox is "hoping the Cubs-Indians battle will renew interest in the national pastime." Shanks: "Like any stock portfolio, things go up and down, and right now the baseball stock is up" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/4). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes the Twins-Braves Game 7 in '91 was "so long ago that it was called on CBS by Jack Buck, whose son Joe just finished his 19th World Series," while Fox' John Smoltz was the starting pitcher for the Braves in that game. Buck said, "It might have been a different viewing public in 1991 without the internet and all the other options out there. So for anything we do in 2016 to be compared to something in 1991 tells you that this really cut through." Sandomir writes it was "not a shock, least of all to Fox, that a World Series involving the Cubs could generate a large audience" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/4).

FAN ENGAGEMENT: AD AGE's Anthony Crupi wrote in '16, only four NFL playoff games and Super Bowl 50 "delivered a higher rating" than Cubs-Indians Game 7. The Cubs-Indians finale "all but assuredly will prove to be one of the top 10 most-watched broadcasts" of both the calendar year and the '16-17 TV season. The NBA Finals "won't lay a glove on it," while Game 7 "easily surpassed the turnout for the year's biggest scripted broadcast, a Jan. 5 'NCIS'-'NCIS: New Orleans' crossover episode that drew 19 million viewers to CBS." While it would be "foolhardy to draw any wide-ranging conclusions about the future of baseball's TV ratings ... the Fall Classic may be enjoying something of a youth movement." The Fox audience has "aged down in each of the last two years," with a median age of 53.6 years for Cubs-Indians. Moreover, this year's series ties the '12 Giants-Tigers World Series as the "youngest-skewing MLB title tilt in five seasons" (ADAGE.com, 11/3).

CARRYING THE MOMENTUM: SNY's Marc Malusis said Cubs-Indians Game 7 was "what baseball needed," as the country "basically turned its eyes to Cleveland and watched baseball." The N.Y. Daily News' Andy Martino said, "This is baseball we’re talking about. For today, it’s actually a mainstream discussion in this country. That’s huge.” He added, "Baseball can be incredibly dull and slow on a day-to-day basis but when it’s good, it is better than anything” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 11/3). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said the Cubs' win is a "great story" for baseball. Kornheiser: "Look at the people that watched that game -- 40 million people on average watching a baseball game that usually gets no national ratings. ... This is like waking the echoes of the National Pastime, and they’re all brought in by the Cubs" ("PTI," ESPN, 11/3). SNY’s Chris Carlin said, “Baseball needs great stories. The Cubs in Game 7 of the World Series, that’s a great story” (“Loud Mouths,” SNY, 11/3).

MY COUNTRY TIS OF THEE
: In Nashville, Nate Rau notes despite going head-to-head with Game 7, the CMA Awards on ABC turned in "solid" ratings. In Nashville, the CMA Awards drew a 22.8 local rating compared to 22.1 for Game 7. Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said that she "understood competition would be stiff" up against the World Series. She said that she was "pleased with the overall number and hopeful that viewership will rise as fans who chose to watch the game, but record the CMA Awards, catch up in the coming days" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 11/4).

NORTH OF THE BORDER: Sportsnet delivered its largest World Series audience in history, with an average audience of 2.66 million Canadian viewers tuning into Game 7. Sportsnet's previous all-time most-watched World Series game was Game 7 of the '14 Giants-Royals World Series, which averaged 1.24 million viewers. The '16 World Series also set a record for Sportsnet as the most-watched Fall Classic in the net's history, delivering 1.26 million viewers, up 44% from '15 (Sportsnet).

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