Sports TV News

World Series Ratings Still Down, But Game 5 Shows Promise

“According to Sports Media Watch, Game 4 was the league’s most-watched World Series game since 2018.”

Published

9 months ago

November 2, 2021

FOX’s World Series ratings rode a rollercoaster over the weekend as they went up against College and NFL broadcasts. Starting with Game 4 played in Atlanta, FOX averaged 10.771 million viewers in what ended up being the third least-watched World Series Game 4 in MLB’s history.

Saturday is usually the least-watched night of TV during the week, and that–paired with competing college football broadcasts–left the league and FOX with that mark. Historically, Game 4 was a disappointment, but it was a big victory when looking at recent history.

According to Sports Media Watch, Game 4 was the most-watched World Series game since 2018. The Braves moved their series lead to 3-1 and slotted in as the most-watched Game 4 since the 2018 matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. The matchup increased 18% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year.

Game 5 was a banner night for FOX as the Astros’ fight to stay alive brought in an average of 13.933 million viewers. That represented a 19% increase from 2019 and a 35% increase from 2020. NFL broadcast coverage leading into the game helped coverage from Houston, but it was still the sports largest audience since Game 7 of the 2019 World Series.

The most impressive part about the mark is that they went up against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. America’s Team didn’t have its starting quarterback, but it was a close contest throughout that ultimately didn’t hurt baseball’s ratings.

CBS posted figures on Sunday that they haven’t seen since 2015. The network’s NFL single header amassed averaged 17.777 million viewers on Sunday. The week also brought strong growth for Paramount+. ViacomCBS’s streaming service set a viewership record for the single header and is recording double-digit growth for the streaming platform compared to last season.

Russ Heltman

Russ Heltman is a daily news writer for BSM. He is the morning host and producer for 89.3 WMKV in Cincinnati, OH. He also works in gameday communications for FC Cincinnati and additionally contributes to the AllBengals blog for Sports Illustrated. Russ can be found on Twitter @RussHeltman11 or you can reach him by email at Heltmandm@yahoo.com.

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ESPN Will Honor Vin Scully By Airing Iconic 1988 World Series Game 1 Tonight

ESPN will air an encore presentation of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series as a tribute to Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scull

Published

1 hour ago

August 3, 2022

BSM Staff

ESPN will air an encore presentation of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series as a tribute to Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully. The network will air the game tonight, August 3 at 8pm ET on ESPN2.

The 1988 World Series was between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics. Scully was on the call for the classic game which is notable for an injured Kirk Gibson coming off the bench and hitting a walk-off home run.

BSM Staff

Sports TV News

Matthew Berry Joins NBC Sports

Berry is expected to host a daily podcast and have his own Sunday fantasy football show.

Published

2 hours ago

August 3, 2022

BSM Staff

Matthew Berry, the fantasy football expert that helped to elevate the niche to mainstay programming surrounding the football season, is joining NBC Sports.

Berry, who left ESPN less than a month ago, is expected to host a daily podcast and have his own Sunday fantasy football show, sources told The New York Post. The show might go against Fantasy Football Now, his previous show that airs on ESPN2.

The show is also expected to be on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock, as well as possibly on some NBC affiliates. Berry could also make appearances on Sunday Night Football.

NBC Sports declined comment.

BSM Staff

Sports TV News

NBC Pushing for Big Ten/NFL Primetime Pairing in Media Rights Deal

“The Big Ten would have exposure in every TV home,” said one source to Front Office Sports. “It would also be a smart idea to follow the model of the most successful sports league in America.”

Published

2 hours ago

August 3, 2022

BSM Staff

Big Ten media rights negotiations are getting closer to being completed. The results could mean a minimum of $1.25 billion annual distribution for the conference’s soon-to-be sixteen members. One of the bidders in the process, NBC, has an interesting idea to make the Big Ten the “NFL of college football conferences.”

NBC has reportedly pushed the idea of combining Big Ten broadcasts with its existing Notre Dame coverage and would feature the Big Ten in its primetime window. With CBS, ESPN/ABC also bidding on coverage packages, such a series of deals would make the Big Ten the only college football conference that would be seen across all of the American broadcast networks. Something only few entities have done, like the NFL.

NBC is also pushing the allure of having primetime Big Ten football on Saturday night and primetime coverage of Sunday’s only NFL evening game with Sunday Night Football.

“The Big Ten would have exposure in every TV home,” said one source to Front Office Sports. “It would also be a smart idea to follow the model of the most successful sports league in America.”

The Big Ten’s current media rights deals expire after the 2023 season.

BSM Staff