Fox won the night in the early metered markets, benefiting from the football overrun (New York Giants vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) and the fourth game of the World Series, which pulled an 11.0/17 (household rating/share) for the 8:30p-11p portion. Marc Berman notes that the game was down from last year’s game four by 21%, but honestly, the 11.0/17 and having 79% of last year’s ratings is better than I expected for a few reasons:
1. Last year’s game four included the Boston Red Sox
2. Last year’s game four included the Boston Red Sox WINNING the World Series
3. Last night’s game ended up being a blow out, and was never close after the fourth inning
I hope Tampa Bay can come back and win tonight just because I’d like to see the series get interesting. But they will face Phillies ace, Cole Hamels so the prospects of winning game five seem rather daunting. Otherwise the series is over, which will be fun for Phillies fans, but a disappointment for Fox. There hasn’t been a seven game World Series since 2002 when my San Francisco Giants were defeated by the California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Desperate Housewives will no doubt be the most-watched scripted show of the night, and NBC, without Sunday Night Football (which helped Fox, otherwise the baseball numbers would’ve been even worse!) pulled in Quarterlife style numbers for the night by airing a rerun of the movie The 40-Year Old Virgin.
You can check out the full metered market numbers via Marc Berman.
Metered Market Overnight Ratings: This is normally the first available ratings information, and is based on the electronic measurement service that Nielsen provides in 56 of the nation’s largest markets. In each market a sample of homes is selected to represent that individual market. Often, networks or syndicators provide metered market information as an early indicator of a program’s performance. In aggregate, the 56 metered markets represent 79,890,610 homes, or 70% of all U.S. TV households. Preliminary metered market data are available as early as 8:00AM (ET). Final metered market information, reflecting line-up changes, pre-emptions and runovers, are normally available by 3:30PM (ET).
Jenna, stop, you’re making Fox cry
Jenna, be sure the Fox PR folks have at the top of their “why our Fall ratings sucked” excuse list “1. Rays vs. Phillies World Series. Don’t Blame Us.”
Well, if people aren’t watching, they are missing out on a great series with all kinds of great plays and players. The Phillies have as many stars out there as ANY team in baseball right now. You have your last two MVPs of the National League, and a rising star in Cole Hamels. They are just a fun team to watch. They actually look like they are having fun out there.
jenna, robert, and bill:
you guys are all retarded so shut your face GOOOOO PHILLLIEEEESSSSS!!!!!!! YEAHHHHhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe, is it necessary to use such disgusting language, especially since all they were doing was pointing out that other series would have more widespread appeal?
I’m sure Fox is rooting for the Rays at this point. More games will raise the average viewership, particularly more “potentially final games”.
As for me, I couldn’t care less. I’m all for a nice sunny afternoon game with a beer and some peanuts, but baseball on TV is like watching grass grow.
Bill, but you are more about the “picnic” than the game itself! There have been some good series where (at least as a huge sports fan) the drama unfolds nicely on TV. But so far, this isn’t one of them…
Absolutely, on a nice day, the baseball game is incidental.