Tag Archives: World Series

Your thoughts: Why people aren’t watching World Series

Posted on by

Yesterday, I gave my views on what contributed to the record low ratings for this year’s World Series. And the declining popularity isn’t just limited to this year.

I asked for your thoughts and got some interesting responses. You have the floor:

Too many games

They need to end the baseball season sooner. Baseball is a spring/summer sport; don’t allow it to run over into fall. The baseball season is way too long. How to fix baseball? Have a 120-game season and end it in late July or early August. This will allow people not to be complacent and keep baseball from competing with the big boys (NFL and college football).–Ronnie

Ugh, I hate to admit it, because I love baseball as both a former player and a fan. But they need to reduce the amount of games played. This is an always-on world we live in and the huge amounts of content available online has had significant implications for the modern day consumers attention span.–Mark

There’s so many baseball games on during the reg. season that postseason baseball just seems like another game to the average fan. I’ll watch, but I’m guessing many fans tune out once their team is out.–Twins91

My response: Yes, the reason season could use a trim, but it isn’t going to happen.  Too much revenue from those meaningless games.

*******

Less regular season, more postseason

Baseball needs to take a page from NBA: Lengthen your postseason. The NBA soars in April, May, June.  For two months, they are front and center with playoffs. In baseball, it’s (three weeks) and postseason is over.

I’m 36, and I could care less about the baseball regular season. I honestly didn’t watch three innings of baseball all year. Absolutely dreadful; no urgency whatsoever. They need urgency in baseball!!!  Almost every year I do tune into baseball postseason.

Forget 162 games; that is baseball’s biggest problem. Take month or more off the regular season; add a month or more to post season.  That would get me to tune in. I am not for watching meaninless baseball games. Can’t do it.–Brad

My response: I also have kicked around this notion. The purists will say the worst thing that could happen to baseball would be for it to become like the NBA and NHL with too many teams getting in. But wouldn’t an extended playoff format increase the number of meaningful games?

Just a thought. I’m not wed to the idea. Also, like I just said; baseball isn’t going to reduce the 162-game regular season.

********

Too many Latin players

I have talked about this with my friends for several years. A lot of what people watch has to do with the ability to relate and identify with the athletes. In my opinion, the Latin demographic is becoming more and more dominant in baseball. The best players in our supposed “American pasttime” seem to be from Latin America. Therefore, it is hard for American youth, and Americans in general, to idolize, follow and care about athletes they perceive to have nothing in common with. I think this is a major factor in the declining interest from American viewers.–Mark

My response: Latin players have been around for a long time. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series in 1960 with a guy named Roberto Clemente. People definitely identified with the Latin players on the Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz. I think the bigger issue is that there isn’t a large enough pool of players that people identify with these days, American or otherwise.

*******

Yankee-Red Sox factor

When you shove only RedSox/Yankees down national throat. Giants and Tigers not national teams. Only Boston-New York are.–Dave via Twitter

An inordinate % of MLB regular season national TV coverage (Fox, ESPN, and TBS) on a small # of teams–Classic Sports Media via Twitter

I still think the main reason is intrigue of teams. People will watch the games with Yankees, Red sox, Dodgers. Yankees-Phillies in 2009 had great ratings.–Jake via Twitter

My response: Indeed, I overdose on seeing Yankees-Red Sox all the time. At least it feels that way. Baseball needs to do a better job of enhancing the identity of other teams, especially a team that has won two titles in the last three years.

********

Late start times

I was 15 in 1991, and I missed the ending of Game 7 of probably one of the best World Series ever because I had to go to school the next day. Start the games at 7:00pm! (ET)–Lou

I will say the late starts kill it for all sports. My son is 10. He rarely gets to see the end of a sporting event because they don’t start until after 7:30 central. He ends up watching it on SportsCenter or Youtube the next morning. Maybe I should raise my kids on the West Coast or Hawaii–Ralph

My 12-year-old son would rather watch a FC Barcelona or Manchester United Soccer game with me.  Plus they actually play when he is awake!  He can name the starting line-ups for Man U and FC Barcelona, just like I could name the baseball starting line-ups when I was a kid.  With the high cost of tickets and the pace of the game (slow and boring) MLB is totally missing the young demographic–Benjamin

I think the low baseball ratings have to do with length of games; 3+ hrs & late endings of game. Games need 2 end by 10p EST–Andy via Twitter

My Response: I’ve made my points on this issue. MLB might have lost a generation of World Series fans because of the late start times. At least start the weekend games earlier.

******

Enough with the ratings

Don’t get stories about ratings – should I stop watching because ratings down? Same issue w move box office numbers.–Greg via Twitter

My Response: I hear ya, Greg. But this is what I do here. Enjoy your games and your movies.

 

 

 

All-time low rating: Why World Series continues to decline; trails NBA Finals, NCAA tourney, BCS

Posted on by

It doesn’t add up.

Bud Selig will tell anyone who listens that Major League Baseball is more popular than ever. The game continues to set attendance records.

However, if that’s the case, why are TV ratings sinking at the same pace as Detroit’s bats during the World Series?

The latest Giants World Series victory averaged an all-time low of 12.7 million viewers per game. The numbers are striking.

From Sports Media Watch:

The World Series has now set or tied a record-low rating eight times since the 1994-95 players’ strike (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012). In addition, this is the seventh time in the past eight election years (midterm or presidential) that the World Series has set a record-low.

The 2012 World Series was the third in five years to average a previously unheard-of single-digit rating. Over the past five seasons, 20 of 27 World Series telecasts have drawn a single-digit rating — compared to four such games previously.

Forget about losing to football. From Sports Media Watch:

Compared to other sports, the World Series trailed the five-game Bowl Championship Series on ESPN (8.4, 14.1M), the three-game NCAA Tournament Final Four (10.1, 17.1M*) and the five-game Heat/Thunder NBA Finals on ABC (10.1, 16.9M).

This marks the fourth time in five years that the NBA Finals has averaged a higher rating and more viewers than the World Series, and the fifth time in seven years the NBA has averaged better numbers among adults 18-49. Prior to 2008, the NBA Finals had only topped the World Series three times, all in years when Michael Jordan‘s Bulls won the championship (1993, 1996 and 1998).

Once upon a time, the 1977 World Series averaged 44 million viewers per game. Now that’s not a fair comparison in the modern era of TV ratings, but even by recent measures, the World Series has declined. There wasn’t one series in the ’90s that averaged less than 20 million viewers per game. As late as 2004, the series pulled in 25 million viewers per game.

So what gives Mr. Commissioner? Popularity should be measured by attendance and ratings. If I’m MLB and its TV partners, there has to be concern why fans aren’t watching the biggest games on their big screens.

As it relates to the World Series, here are some of my theories:

Sweep madness: Baseball has run into an extraordinary string of bad luck. The Giants sweep was the fourth in a World Series since 2004. Only two series in the last nine have gone beyond five games and only one to the full seven.

Nothing kills ratings more than a sweep. People start to check out after 2-0. Even worse, there’s no carryover effect from one year to the next. With the exception of St. Louis-Texas in 2011, the World Series hasn’t delivered much in the way of lasting memories–except for fans of the winning team.

Football: Back in 1977, football was limited to the colleges on Saturday afternoon and the pros on Sunday afternoon and Monday night. And baseball usually scheduled on an off-day to avoid a conflict with Monday Night Football.

Now the World Series bumps up against football on virtually every night. Saturday’s Game 3 faced a stiff test in Notre Dame-Oklahoma, and Game 4 went up against Peyton Manning and Drew Brees on Sunday Night Football. Baseball definitely took a hit.

I remember when the NFL didn’t schedule a Sunday night game to avoid a conflict with the World Series. Not anymore. Football rules.

Local: I wonder if baseball has become more provincial. If the home team isn’t involved, perhaps we don’t care anymore. I definitely didn’t hear much talk about the World Series on my two local sports talk radio stations in Chicago. Can you say, Da Bears!

Star power: Or lack thereof. Stars draw viewers, and this year’s World Series didn’t have them. Sure, Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera are terrific players, but they don’t move the meter like a Derek Jeter or ARod, or dare I say it, Barry Bonds. Now the Giants winning two of three series with Bonds in the lineuep? I guarantee that would have generated some ratings.

Kids out: As I wrote Saturday, lamenting how kids get shut out because of the late start of games, I wonder if we’ve lost a generation of baseball fans–at least as far as the World Series is concerned. All I can say is that when I came home Saturday night, my sports-obsessed teenage boys were flipping between ND-Oklahoma and Michigan-Nebraska games. When I asked them what was going on in Game 3, they had no idea.

They didn’t grow up with the World Series. They never got to see the end of games when they were younger. As a result, the World Series isn’t important to them.

MLB should reach out to my boys. They could provide some good feedback on the all-important youth demo.

And finally: At least the short series prevented a Game 7 on Nov. 1. There’s something not right about baseball in November.

Anything else?: I’m open to suggestions.