Little League Finale Second-Best Since ’07

Though down from last year, the final of the Little League World Series delivered one of the event’s top audiences in eight years.

Last Sunday’s Japan/Lewisberry (PA) Little League World Series final drew a 2.8 final rating and 4.6 million viewers on ABC, down 15% in ratings and viewership from South Korea/Chicago last year (3.3, 5.3M) but up 12% and 15%, respectively, from Japan/Chula Vista (CA) in 2013 (2.5, 3.9M).

Other than last year, the game ranks as the highest rated and most-watched LLWS final since 2007 (3.3, 5.0M).

The previous day, the Lewisberry (PA)/Pearland (TX) U.S. championship drew a 2.3 and 3.6 million — down 32% in ratings and 31% in viewership from Chicago/Las Vegas last year (3.4, 5.2M) and up 10% and 13%, respectively, from Chula Vista (CA)/Westport (CT) in 2013 (2.1, 3.1M). The 2.3 rating is the second-highest for the U.S. championship since 2003 (2.6), again trailing only last year.

Rounding out last weekend’s action, the Japan/Mexico International Championship drew a 1.6 and 2.4 million viewers — up 14% in ratings and 13% in viewership from both South Korea/Japan last year and Japan/Mexico in 2013 (1.4, 2.1M).

It should be noted that kids 2-17 made up the smallest portion of the audience for each telecast. Sunday’s title game had 371,000 such viewers, while the U.S. and international championships drew 273,000 and 180,000, respectively. Viewers over the age of 55 made up the largest portion — 2.4 million for the title game, 1.9 million for the U.S. championship, and 1.3 million for the international championship.

Ratings/Viewership For LLWS Final Dating Back to 2003

(Nielsen)