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just a Yankees victory Smarter scheduling of the games also helped ratings Nov 6, 2009
But also give some credit to Major League Baseball and adjustments it's made to the scheduling of Series games the past two years. The effects were not evident last year, when the Series generated among the worst ratings in recent years because of a poor matchup of teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays. But they were this year. The Yankees-Phillies matchup finished with an average 19.4 million total viewers, the best since the Boston Red Sox snapped an 86-year dry spell in 2004. The six games averaged an 11.7 Nielsen household rating and 19 share, up 39 percent over last year's 8.4/14 and the biggest-ever year-to-year jump for the Series. In adults 18-49, they averaged a 6.2, ranking them No. 2 among all series in primetime. The first big change was the start time for the games. They used to begin around 8:20 p.m. This year four of this year's six World Series games began before 8 p.m., the earliest starts ever for primetime games. One other game was supposed to start before 8 but was pushed back due to rain; the sixth was slated for 8:20 p.m. due to Fox's NFL schedule. Starting the games earlier meant that people on the East Coast did not have to stay up quite as late to see the end of the games. This year games ended at an average 11:37 p.m., 26 minutes earlier than the past two years. As a result, there were that many more people tuned in to see the final innings. Fox averaged a 12.8 household rating after 11 p.m. compared to a 12.1 before 11 p.m. Other changes that likely boosted Fox's ratings were starting the series on a Wednesday instead of little-watched Saturday, where game one was often overlooked. Fox made that change last year. Finally, the Series stretched into November by design for the first time this year. (In past years it had been forced into November because of weather- or terrorism-related delays.) The importance of November play? Americans are off daylight savings time, so it's dark earlier. And temperatures have dropped in much of the country, so more people are indoors due to the colder weather. The Yankees, who play in television's biggest TV market, defeated the Phillies, who won last year's title. The Yankees' presence likely spurred the rest of the ratings increase, thanks to stars such as Derek Jeter, C.C. Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez, who won his first World Series.
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