There hasn’t been a seven game World Series since 2002, the longest drought in at least the last 40 years. A seven game series involving the New York Yankees would be great news for FOX. At this point FOX would probably gladly settle for a six game series. There hasn’t been a series even that long since 2003, the last time the Yankees were in the World Series.
Bedeviled by rain delays (and the Tampa Bay Rays), the 2008 World Series had the lowest average viewership ever (13.6 million). Barring a 4 game sweep plus something else extraordinary, the 2009 World Series featuring the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies should easily beat those ratings. The last time the Yankees were in the World Series (2003) the average viewership topped 20 million. I think a seven game series this year could test the 20 million level. Anything shorter than seven games and I think that 17 million average looks like a reasonable target.
In this century, for World Series average viewership to break 20 million, it requires the Yankees or the Red Sox. Although in 2000, even the Yankees couldn’t pull an all NY matchup above 20 million.
Full World Series Ratings Data, 1968-2008:
| Year | Net | #Telecasts | Rating | Share | Homes | Viewers | Teams |
| 2008 | FOX | 5 | 8.4 | 14 | 13,635,000 | Tampa Bay Rays/Philadelphia Phillies | |
| 2007 | FOX | 4 | 10.6 | 18 | 11,994,000 | 17,123,000 | Boston Red Sox / Colorado Rockies |
| 2006 | FOX | 5 | 10.1 | 17 | 11,282,000 | 15,812,000 | St. Louis Cardinals /Detroit Tigers |
| 2005 | FOX | 4 | 11.1 | 19 | 12,272,000 | 17,162,000 | Chicago White Sox/Houston Astros |
| 2004 | FOX | 4 | 15.8 | 26 | 17,270,000 | 25,390,000 | Boston Red Sox/St. Louis Cardinals |
| 2003 | FOX | 6 | 12.8 | 22 | 13,834,000 | 20,142,000 | Florida Marlins / NY Yankees |
| 2002 | FOX | 7 | 11.9 | 20 | 12,645,000 | 19,261,000 | Anahiem Angels/San Francisco Giants |
| 2001 | FOX | 7 | 15.7 | 26 | 16,519,000 | 24,528,000 | Arizona Diamnondbacks / NY Yankees |
| 2000 | FOX | 5 | 12.4 | 21 | 12,657,000 | 18,081,000 | NY Yankees / NY Mets |
| 1999 | NBC | 4 | 16.0 | 26 | 16,105,000 | 23,731,000 | NY Yankees / Atlanta Braves |
| 1998 | FOX | 4 | 14.1 | 24 | 14,050,000 | 20,340,000 | NY Yankees / San Diego Padres |
| 1997 | NBC | 7 | 16.7 | 29 | 16,410,000 | 24,790,000 | Florida Marlins / Cleveland Indians |
| 1996 | FOX | 6 | 17.4 | 29 | 16,890,000 | 25,220,000 | NY Yankees / Atlanta Braves |
| 1995 | ABC | 6 | 19.5 | 33 | 18,710,000 | 28,970,000 | Atlanta Braves / Cleveland Indians |
| 1994 | Baseball Strike | ||||||
| 1993 | CBS | 6 | 17.3 | 30 | 16,330,000 | 24,700,000 | Toronto Blue Jays / Philadelphia Phillies |
| 1992 | CBS | 6 | 20.2 | 34 | 18,820,000 | 30,010,000 | Toronto Blue Jays / Atlanta Braves |
| 1991 | CBS | 7 | 24.0 | 39 | 22,060,000 | 35,680,000 | Minnesota Twins / Atlanta Braves |
| 1990 | CBS | 4 | 20.8 | 36 | 19,320,000 | 30,240,000 | Cincinnati Reds / Oakland Athletics |
| 1989 | ABC | 4 | 16.4 | 29 | 15,090,000 | 24,550,000 | Oakland Athletics / San Francisco Giants |
| 1988 | NBC | 5 | 23.9 | 39 | 21,610,000 | 34,490,000 | Los Angeles Dodgers / Oakland Athletics |
| 1987 | ABC | 7 | 24.0 | 41 | 21,230,000 | 35,340,000 | Minnesota Twins / St. Louis Cardinals |
| 1986 | NBC | 7 | 28.6 | 46 | 23,640,000 | 36,370,000 | New York Mets / Boston Red Sox |
| 1985 | ABC | 7 | 25.3 | 39 | 21,740,000 | 34,510,000 | Kansas City Royals / St. Louis Cardinals |
| 1984 | NBC | 5 | 22.9 | 40 | 19,270,000 | 28,010,000 | Detroit Tigers / San Diego Padres |
| 1983 | ABC | 5 | 23.3 | 41 | 19,570,000 | 29,540,000 | Baltimore Orioles / Philadelphia Phillies |
| 1982 | NBC | 7 | 27.9 | 49 | 23,370,000 | 38,070,000 | St. Louis Cardinals / Milwaukee Brewers |
| 1981 | ABC | 6 | 30.0 | 49 | 24,480,000 | 41,370,000 | Los Angeles Dodgers / NY Yankees |
| 1980 | NBC | 6 | 32.8 | 56 | 25,380,000 | 42,300,000 | Philadelphia Phillies / Kansas City Royals |
| 1979 | ABC | 7 | 28.5 | 50 | 21,730,000 | 37,960,000 | Pittsburgh Pirates / Baltimore Orioles |
| 1978 | NBC | 6 | 32.8 | 56 | 24,450,000 | 44,278,950 | NY Yankees / Los Angeles Dodgers |
| 1977 | ABC | 6 | 29.8 | 53 | 21,720,000 | 37,150,000 | NY Yankees / Los Angeles Dodgers |
| 1976 | NBC | 4 | 27.5 | 48 | 19,580,000 | 34,720,000 | Cincinnati Reds / NY Yankees |
| 1975 | NBC | 7 | 28.7 | 52 | 19,980,000 | 35,960,000 | Cincinnati Reds / Boston Red Sox |
| 1974 | NBC | 5 | 25.6 | 46 | 17,540,000 | 29,080,000 | Oakland Athletics / Los Angeles Dodgers |
| 1973 | NBC | 7 | 30.7 | 57 | 20,320,000 | 34,750,000 | Oakland Athletics / NY Mets |
| 1972 | NBC | 7 | 27.5 | 58 | NA | NA | Oakland Athletics / Cincinnati Reds |
| 1971 | NBC | 7 | 24.2 | 59 | NA | NA | Pittsburgh Pirates / Baltimore Orioles |
| 1970 | NBC | 5 | 19.4 | 53 | NA | NA | Baltimore Orioles / Cincinnati Reds |
| 1969 | NBC | 5 | 22.4 | 58 | NA | NA | NY Mets / Baltimore Orioles |
| 1968 | NBC | 7 | 22.8 | 57 | NA | NA | Detroit Tigers / St. Louis Cardinals |
*While there were six telecasts for the 2008 series, there were only five games. The sixth telecast was the completion of game five which was suspended due to rain.
Copyright © 2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
When is the world series?
Starts tonight.
Both teams are very strong. Six.
I am glad that Fox is starting the games just before 8pm.
However, I think they are making a big mistake by starting the Sunday game at 8:20.
They will have a HUGE audience (possibly the biggest regular season NFL audience in years) for the GB-Minnesota game.
If it doesn’t go into overtime, the GB-Minnesota game should end by 7:30 ET. FOx would be wise to start the WS game on Sunday by no later than 8pm to hold that audience. With the post game NFL, and pre game World Series that follows, they are going to lose alot of viewers.
Not a smart move by FOx.
Also, for the fans, I think Fox should start the Saturday Night games earlier. I know they will never have an afternoon game, but, it would be good to start the Saturday game at 7pm. I do not think it would effect the ratings on a Saturday.
Given the trajectory of the year-to-year graph you showed, shouldn’t the question be how LOW will the ratings go?
The first game will probably get the highest rating with C.C. vs. Cliff Lee. I hope the yankees sweep, but that’s just me.
Lets go Yankees! Yanks in six!
I’ll be anxious to see the local NY/Philly ratings vs the National numbers as well.
Yankees outpsend all other teams. They represent everything thats wrong with baseball. They are bad for baseball. Phillies are a big spenidng team as well but not to the extent of the yankees. Go phillies.
Screw the yankees the world does not revolve around new york even if espn makes you think so!!
Why is viewership going down, let’s see the first round was on cable, the NLCS was on cable. In these rough times people are dropping cable/satellite to save money so you can’t watch them.
That why the NFL is the #1 sport in the USA, almost all of the games are shown on over the air channels, and if you team is on cable, if it’s soldout, a local channel shows the game, can’t say that about any sport other than the NFL
I have a sense that this World Series will go down to seven games and it will average over 30 million viewers. FOX will crush the other nets in the November Sweep, and go on to win the 2009-10 season with their biggest margin of victory yet.
Wow, I knew there where WS sweeps these past few years but I didnt know the last 6 game series was with the Yankees and THE WS CHAMPS FLORIDA MARLINS!!! I saw all of them ^_^. So proud of the Marlins that Year lol.
Anyway, FOX should be really happy with baseball this year. the Angles/Yankees series where incredible and got them major ratings and im pretty positive people will be watching the WS this year.
Look at the different matchups back in the 70s and 80s. It seems like ever since the Strike the sport has struggled to pull in huge numbers like the NFL Playoffs. The sport needs to get a salary cap and have more parity. Its important that every team.
Its just not a balanced sport right now and that’s why FOX is so dependent on the Yanks and Red Sox. The other major sports don’t really have this problem as they rely on their biggest teams for a solid rating. The NHL is a different story b/c that league is trying to rebuild itself.
To adam:
if u think this will be less viewers than the last few years u are totally lost.
To cp:
if u think that game 1 will be higher than sundays game after favre/pack….then u might be hangin with adam too much….lol.
Looking at your chart FOX would have been even happier had it been a Dodgers-Yankees series. It will be interesting how ratings are east coast vs west coast as our start times are 5pm.
I’m actually hoping they don’t make it to seven games, because I think that would mean “Bones” gets preempted on November 5th.
Go Yankees!
I pray for a 4 game sweep!
Yanks in 6. Next Wed: WS Ring #27. It’s destiNY. You don’t bet against it.
Phillies in 6.
I’m surprised my hometown Astros when they were in the World Series 4 years ago, got 17 million average. I though they would get only 8 million with them in.
Chicago bumped the astros series #s.
If the Chicago Cubs are ever in a World Series then it would be the highest rated World Series of all-time or at least 30 million viewers.
Imagine a Game 7 at Wrigley for the World Series and a close game. That would break some records.
I don’t think it’s crazy to say that if the Cubs ever make the WS that the ratings they are getting now would more than double. Now imagine a Cubs/Yankees or Red Sox World Series. If both teams had not collapsed in their league championship the 2003 World Series with Bos/Chc would have been the biggest sporting event of our time. That series would still be a big one now but since the Sox broke their curse and won it(2004 and again in 2007) it wouldn’t have quite the same level of excitement. That would have been pandemonium in Chicago and Boston.
19.5 million for game one was more than I expected. My guess of 17 million in a 4 game series was *way* too low.
20 million seems the floor for a very short series now, and a long series has a chance at topping the 2004 series average.
Bill how can have guessed only 17m ?
Last nite was against reruns + sunday with favres leadin + 2 big markets.
romo, 2007’s 4 game series averaged 17 million with a somewhat worse matchup. The 2003 4 game series averaged only 20 million with the Yankees. To those numbers I applied a general “everything on broadcast is down every year” factor which turned out to be too big.