On a fascinating television night, the Rays/Phillies World Series was a ratings magnet — for at least three innings.
Buoyed in part by a lead-in from Barack Obama, the conclusion of Game 5 of the World Series drew a 13.4/21 overnight from 8:45-10:15 PM Wednesday night, making the conclusion of the game the highest rated individual baseball telecast of the season.
Compared to the clinching game of last year’s World Series, the 13.4 for the Rays/Phillies marks a 6% decline from a 14.3 for Red Sox/Rockies Game 4 last year. However, comparing the ratings for an abbreviated telecast to a full nine-inning game does not render an accurate comparison.
The conclusion of Game 5 averaged a whopping 16.7 million viewers and a 5.4/14 among adults 18-49 from 8:30-10 PM, helping FOX win the night in total viewers (14.5 million) and the 18-49 demo (4.7/12).
The strong numbers are not much of a surprise. Considering that the highest rated portion of any sports telecast comes towards the end of the game, it would make sense that a telecast that started in the middle of the sixth in a tied game would draw far higher ratings than a comparable nine-inning telecast.
In Philadelphia, where part one of Game 5 drew a 45.2/60 on Monday, the end of the game drew a 51.8/69. In Tampa/St. Petersburg, the end of the game drew a 32.4/45.
Depending on how Nielsen counts the ratings, the 2008 World Series could finish with an average as high as 9.1 (assuming the 13.4 holds). That would be a result of taking the average of the ratings from the six World Series telecasts (Games 1, 2, 3, 4 and both Game 5 telecasts). If FOX is allowed to count only the ratings from the conclusion of the game, the average could rise as high as 9.2 (again, if the 13.4 holds).
The game got a good lead-in from Illinois senator Barack Obama’s half hour advertisment. Obama’s ad drew a combined 17.8/29 overnight on CBS, NBC and FOX. On FOX, the ad drew 7.9 million viewers, third of the three broadcast networks on which it aired.
