The final game of the College World Series final hit a five-year viewership high on ESPN.
Game 3 of the Vanderbilt/Virginia College World Series final earned 2.4 million viewers on ESPN Wednesday night, the largest audience for any game of the championship series since LSU/Texas Game 3 in 2009 (3.2M). Keep in mind it was the first Game 3 of the championship series since that 2009 game.
Wednesday’s game ranks as the third-most watched baseball telecast of any kind in 2014, trailing only two Major League Baseball games on ESPN.
Game 2 of the series on Tuesday night earned 1.8 million viewers, up 37% from UCLA/Mississippi State last year (1.3M) but down 13% from Arizona/South Carolina in 2012 (2.1M). Monday’s Game 1 also drew 1.8 million, up 12% from last year (1.6M) and up 19% from 2012 on ESPN2 (1.5M).
Final averages for the entire tournament were not immediately available.
Viewership For Each Game of the College World Series Final
Past five years
|
Year
|
Winner
|
Loser
|
Game 1
|
Game 2
|
Game 3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 |
Vanderbilt
|
Virginia
|
1.808M
|
1.806M
|
2.388M
|
| 2013 | UCLA | Miss. St. |
1.613M
|
1.318M
|
no game
|
| 2012 | Arizona | S. Carolina |
1.514M
|
2.081M
|
no game
|
| 2011 | S. Carolina | Florida | 2.248M |
2.217M
|
no game
|
| 2010 | S. Carolina | UCLA |
1.192M
|
1.853M
|
no game
|
| 2009 | LSU | Texas |
2.500M
|
2.620M |
3.160M
|
(This year’s numbers from The Futon Critic [1], [2], TV By the Numbers)
