Many people watch All-Star marathon on Fox
I suppose I should do some sort of analysis of my own about the All-Star Game ratings released by Fox this afternoon.
But I don't feel like it. And, really, there is nothing outrageously newsworthy here.
The game attracted a solid 17.1 percent of homes in New York, but the figure was even higher in St. Louis, Minneapolis and Milwaukee.
If you're into ratings arcana, click below for the entire Fox news release on the subject.
Last night’s unforgettable MLB All-Star Game was witnessed by an average audience of 14.5 million viewers and posted a 9.3/16 fast national rating/share, according to figures released today by Nielsen Media Research. It is the most-watched MLB All-Star Game since 2002 (14.7 million), and ties the highest-rated All-Star Game (2006) since 2003 (9.5/17). Viewership compared to last year’s All-Star Game was up an impressive 16% (12.5 million), while the rating scored an 11% gain (8.4/15). See below for additional highlights:
The marathon game stretched 15 innings and a record-setting four hours and fifty minutes. Thus, FOX is allowed by Nielsen to take two ratings for the game: one for the first nine innings (9.3/16) and another for the extra innings (7.5/18). Such a breakdown is allowed by Nielsen in unique circumstances, and in fact was employed for the 2002 All-Star Game played in Milwaukee which lasted 11 innings.
FOX’s All-Star Game and Pre-Game combined to average an 8.7/15 for the night among all homes and a 4.1 among Adults 18-49. The 8.7/15 makes this the highest-rated night of prime time on any network since the May 22 Grey’s Anatomy finale on ABC, and beat all six nights of this year’s Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals. FOX easily won the night in every major male and adult demographic.
The 9.3/16 rating for last night’s Midsummer Classic matches the average rating of this year’s NBA Finals (9.3/17 over six games). This makes three years in a row that the MLB All-Star Game has beaten or tied the average of the recently contested NBA Finals, and it’s the first time that’s happened since before the 1994 MLB players strike. The last time the All-Star Game beat or tied the NBA Finals in three straight summers was 1989-1991.
The biggest demographic increases came from some surprising sources. Male Teens (+22%), Men 55+ (+17%), and Women 18-49 (+24%) were all up by greater percentages than the overall household increase (+11%). Meanwhile, core sports demos were up over last year: Men 18-34 up +2%, Men 18-49 up +5%.
The game’s rating peaked from 10:00-10:30 PM at 10.1/17, and from there, viewership, as is the norm, fell as the elected starters left the game. Although national viewing fell during the extra innings, ratings on the west coast grew stronger. Los Angeles, for example, posted an 8.5/16 for the first nine innings and a 10.3/16 for the extra innings.
Locally, New York earned a 17.1/28 (at least a 10 year high), which translates to just over 1.25 million homes. New York delivered more than 900,000 homes than San Francisco did last year and almost a million more than Pittsburgh did in 2006. Three markets outdrew the host city: St. Louis, the 2009 host (20.3/32); Minneapolis, whose Twins had a player in the game for all 15 innings (19.4/33); and Milwaukee, home of NL starters Ben Sheets and Ryan Braun (18.8/28).
Many major markets hit at least five-year highs last night including Chicago (16.5/27, 5 year high), Philadelphia (12.6/21, 9 year high), Tampa/St. Petersburg (11.7/21, 10 year high), Minneapolis (19.4/33, at least a 10 year high), Miami (11.8/17, at least a 10 year high), and Denver (10.9/19, 6 year high).
The ALL-STAR PRE-GAME SHOW delivered a 6.8/13, a +15% gain over last year's 5.9/11 and the highest All-Star pre-game rating since 2004's 7.1/13. Earlier in the evening, taped coverage of the RED CARPET PARADE PRESENT BY CHEVY posted a 2.2/5. In addition to the television audience, the NYPD estimates that 1.2 million people saw the parade of All-Stars and Hall of Famers make its way up Manhattan's Sixth Avenue.
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Comments (7)
David Stern should be ashamed. His premier event is being compared to an exhibition game.
That expression on Yogi's face looks like Carmen just told him that he has to watch The Bachelorette instead of catching a 15 inning baseball game.
I DON"T CARE about how long it took that game to end last night.
It was a GREAT game.
The type of "All-Star Game" that you won't find in any other sport.
Not Football, not Basketball, not Hockey.
Cuz, everybody gave 110%.
The players, the managers, even the umpires. (Except maybe Buck and McCarver who, on cue, started whining about the length of the game, even when it was moving quickly early on).
Everyone was trying their best TO WIN THE GAME.
Regardless of "how long it took".
Which is what sports, and in particular Baseball, is all about, no?
Give me more people who appreciate Baseball for what it is, regardless of how long it takes to get to the objective.
PLEASE??
why Stern should be ashamed? Ashamed of what, exactly, since the NBA Finals drew extremely good tv ratings? And how in the world is it Stern's fault if this writer decided to compare the baseball's all-star game ratings to the basketball finals?
plus, isn't baseball more popular than basketball anyway? Isn't baseball the so-called national past-time? So, even if I find baseball boring and I'll never watch an entire game, I'm not surprised it got bigger ratings than basketball.
Stop being haters, people.
It's easier to take in an entire game if you listen to the radio guys rather than the tv guys. Radio being "theater of the mind" is more engaging than tv.
>>>arcana
i learned a new word today! thanks neil.
Uh Chris, the NBA used to get twice the ratings they get now back in their "heyday" of 1985-1995. If the NBA's most important series can't outdraw the ratings of an exhibition game, they have a big problem. And, whatever the ratings this year are, they aren't "extremely good". They are only "extremely good" if you look at the two years before this year. If baseball drew that rating for the World Series, people would already be writing how baseball is a dying sport.
"i learned a new word today! thanks neil."
Yeah jimmy, I agree.....I too got a little intimidated when Neil went "Cornell" on us and busted out out a big boy word from the high brow treasure trove of esoteric lexicon.
Possible originations and definitions of "Arcana", jimmy.
A/A ship built by Noah to transport wedding couples in the Old Testament?
B/Dupont's newest environmentally sound, AND noble, packaging innovation, made entirely out of Argon?
C/The progeny that would result from a chance late night alcohol induced tryst between Robinson Cano and Roseanna Arquette?
D/The land mass between Southern Canada and Northern Arkanas before it was overrun with our Northern European ancestors?
okay, okay, it IS Friday.
Weekend is here in 10 hours or so.
Time to put the bong away for 3 days and breakout the Jameson's.