2012 World Series Lowest Rated, Least-Viewed Ever

The 2012 World Series was easily the lowest rated and least-viewed ever.

The four-game Giants/Tigers World Series averaged a 7.6 rating and 12.7 million viewers on FOX, down 24% in ratings and viewership from last year’s seven-game Cardinals/Rangers series (10.0, 16.6M), and down 10% and 11%, respectively, from the five-game Giants/Rangers series in 2010 (8.4, 14.3M).

Compared to previous four-game averages for the World Series, Giants/Tigers declined by 7% in ratings and 6% in viewership from Cardinals/Rangers last year (8.3, 13.5M), and by 7% and 10%, respectively, from Giants/Rangers in 2010 (8.3, 14.1M).

The Giants’ sweep ranks as the lowest rated and least-viewed World Series of all time (see table). The previous lows were an 8.4 rating (2010 and 2008) and 13.6 million viewers (2008).

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.

Giants/Tigers averaged a 3.7 rating among adults 18-49, down 25% from last year’s seven-game average (4.9) and down 8% from the five-game average in 2010 (4.0). Among adults 18-34, the average was a 3.2 — down 24% from last year (4.2), but down only a tick from 2010 (3.3).

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).

As is now typical, the World Series faced head-to-head competition with football games on other networks — the NFL in Games 2 and 4 and college football in Game 3. The football competition — which has increased steadily in recent years — has likely contributed to the recent downturn in World Series ratings.

Average Ratings/Viewership For the World Series
Past decade

* CBS Final Four averages approximate, not official.

(Series average from Fox Sports Media Group press release via Fang’s Bites)