Hey let’s check in with the Fox Sports PR Department, as recapped by Sports Media Watch.
Thursday’s Astros-Phillies World Series Game 5 averaged a 7.0 rating and 12.77 million viewers on FOX (13.01M across all platforms), down 5% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Astros-Braves last year (7.4, 13.82M), but still the most-watched game of the series. (via Sports Media Watch)
Wow 12.77 million viewers! Ignore that part about down 7% from last year. 12.77 million viewers! Baseball is back baby.
What about football?
The competing Eagles-Texans Thursday Night Football … averaged a 3.7 and 7.86 million viewers on Amazon Prime. (via Sports Media Watch)
Yikes, looks like baseball crushed football! Is football dying? Is baseball truly back baby? Let’s see what Amazon has to say about this..
45? That’s not too shabby.
…the NFL game won the head-to-head in adults 18-34 (2.7 to 2.0) and 18-49 (3.2 to 3.0) and finished in a virtual tie in 25-54 (3.66 to 3.67). (via Sports Media Watch)
Hmmm, more 18-34’s like football over baseball? And more 18-49s like football over baseball? And even if you start to add in the Me people….it’s a tie? America’s Pastime, the MLB Finals vs. a random football game that wasn’t even on proper television?
Compared to last year’s Game 5 (2.1, 3.1, 4.0, pending revision), ratings declined in all three young adult demos — marking the first decline of the series in 18-34 and 18-49 and the second in 25-54. (via Sports Media Watch)
You know, maybe I am crazy, but maybe if you play all your big moments late at night, then kids don’t watch. Then those kids grow up and become the second half of the millennials, and all of Generation Z….or as I call them, people that don’t like baseball.
Then there is the ME generation, who liked baseball – except baseball decided it didn’t like baseball and turned it into AlonsoBall where we hit home runs and strike out and that’s that….four hour 3-2 games like the other night… and 9 pitchers combining for games with zero hits (aka very little action). You’re losing us too.
Baseball has become like if someone in football realized the analytics showed we should only spend on defense and always either punt or kick a FG on first down….and then play lights out D and special teams…..and then both teams started doing that. It might actually work, but who wants to watch it? (And think of how long the game would be running off 6 second plays with no running clock).
But fortunately football hasn’t done that. Football also somehow plays the Football Championship Game at 6:30pm Eastern and it’s over at 10pm and somehow the people on the West Coast make themselves available for it. 99.18 million viewers watched the Super Bowl this year. Anyone at MLB want to compare that to the MLB Finals? I’ll wait.
Baseball will be OK enough for a while. Then Gen X will die….and the elder millennial will keep it sort of alive in the way the NHL exists. But after that – watch out baseball. I will be gone by then, as will owners such as Steve Cohen (sorry Steve, do the math) – so this is someone else’s problem, and thus why should any of today’s caretakers give a hoot. Fox gets their 12 million, the TV executives collect their bonuses, the analytics guys in Houston get their trophy…and a sport slowly becomes on par with boxing and horse racing.
