Ready for a shock? The World Series is playing right now on Fox. I know, I had no idea it was on either.
According to Nielsen Media Research as uncovered by the Associated Press, the first game of the World Series only reached 12.8 million viewers. That’s almost two million less viewers than last year’s opening and nearly half the 23.2 million-sized audience of the first game between the Red Sox and Cardinals in 2004.
To put this in perspective, probably more people downloaded that Tommy Lee and Pam Anderson sex video than are currently watching the fall classic. Just goes to show that watching people score is always more entertaining when it doesn’t involve leather mitts and wooden bats.
Game 2 gave some relief to the palpitating hearts of Fox TV executives by garnering a million more pairs of eyeballs than last year with a grand total of 18.2 million. Still, it fell woefully short by 7 million compared to 2004. Can you hear that pounding in the distance? That’s Rupert Murdoch banging his fist on the boardroom table.
Potentially, Fox may recoup some of its losses if the series continues past the minimum four games. The Cardinals currently lead the Tigers by one game in the best of seven match-up, but the possibility of extended games remains in fair play territory. Whether viewers will forgive Fox’s transgressions for booting ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’ in favor of this baseball business and actually tune in, remains to be seen.
