Game 1 was highest-rated World Series opener since 2009
Despite techinical difficulties that delayed the game and forced a termporary switch to MLB’s international feed, Fox came away from World Series Game 1 a big winner.
The network announced Wednesday that Game 1 produced a 9.0/17 household rating/share, with 14.9 million viewers. That’s a 23 percent increase over last year’s Giants-Royals Game 1 ratings, and a 22 percent increase in viewership. In fact, it was the best rating for a World Series Game 1 dating all the way back to 2009, and the most-watched overall since 2010.
[Related: Royals win instant classic Game 1 of the World Series in 14th inning]
Criticism of the broadcasters and technical issues be darned, Fox will obviously take this news.
Of course, the biggest reason behind Game 1’s ratings success is the interest in the matchup. As history suggests, when big markets from the east coast play in the World Series, the numbers inevitably go up. Look no further than that 2009 Series when the Yankees met the Phillies. But that’s only part of the story here. It’s also reported Kansas City’s local rating for the game was a 57.3, which is the highest single-market Game 1 rating since at least 1996.
For what it’s worth, New York drew a 26.2 local rating.
Fox was also dealt a good hand as the action on the field lived up to the hype. Two very evenly matched teams produced an instant classic that lasted lasted 14 innings on the field, and stretched into early Wednesday in the eastern and central timezones. Sometimes postseason games struggle to hold fan interest within the involved markets for a full nine innings. Game 1 managed to do that, while keeping the interest of outside markets as well.
[Five key moments from the Royals’ 5-4 win in World Series Game 1]
Given the expectation that this series will produce several tightly contested and intensely fought games, this series could prove to be a real winner for the league and the network. The only thing seemingly standing in the way of that would be an unexpectedly short series, but the relentless nature of both team strongly suggests we’ll be watching several days into November.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
