World Series Posts Record Low Ratings

[DamnYankees]

Originally Posted by marc

I wasn't necessarily talking about him being an exciting "player" it's more about his personality, he has a very boring personality, much like Tim Duncan. It's for this reason that players like Iverson, Garnett, Kobe, etc. sell more jerseys and get higher ratings when they are on TV.

As a die-hard Laker fan, I have to say Kobe is a pretty boring person. He's just an incredibly exciting on-court athlete. As a person, I wouldn't spend 5 minutes watching him on TV.

[ey215]

Originally Posted by Tribe Fan 24

I don't know if this is THE reason for some of the bad ratings, but I agree with growing tired of the Fox broadcasts. I swear, does Fox have to put that annoying "SWOOOOOSH" with EVERY ONE of the 4.72 million (mostly) useless promos/graphics they put up. I mean, REALLY!!

Maybe I am just hypersensitive to it, but it is like a sharp stick in the eye (ear) every time I hear that. It is almost like they have tried to make the broadcast sound like you are playing a PS2 or XBox.

Sorry for the rant.....I need coffee.

Kevin

Don't forget the seemingly endless amounts of crowd shots. I really don't care what some guy in the stands supposedly witty sign says.

[marc]

Originally Posted by DamnYankees

As a die-hard Laker fan, I have to say Kobe is a pretty boring person. He's just an incredibly exciting on-court athlete. As a person, I wouldn't spend 5 minutes watching him on TV.

But he's still exciting. I guess maybe Pujols falls into the category of both. Kobe has a flair about him when he plays basketball that Pujols doesn't have. I also tend to think that basketball is a much more exciting sport but that's just my personal opinion.

For the record, I spend the same amount of time watching the World Serires regardless of who's playing (unless of course the Phillies make it which never happens). But a lot of casual fans who may not think like many of us on this board won't watch if the star players are boring personalities.

[magnet]

I blame 2 things:

1) FOX
2) 1994 Strike

[rangers85]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Well, World Series games start at 5:30 on the west coast; if you start them earlier those folks won't be home from work yet. But you knew that.

Yeah, but if you move it up an hour, it starts at 4:30 and ends about 7:30-8 which the West Coast would still be able to see the ending. As it is now, the casual fans on the east coast miss the ending which is usually the half of the game a casual fan would rather see comapred to the early innings.

[The Professor]

Originally Posted by magnet

I blame 2 things:

1) FOX
2) 1994 Strike

1. Ratings are generally down across the entire industry, no?

2. More options available for viewers.

3. There is still some dissonance re: baseball and the legacy of the 1994 strike. Crowds are bigger than ever, but the game may never recover that small remainder of natural prestige (for lack of a better word at the moment) it sacrificed in '94.

4. FOX. It is unlikely another network could do much better, but the FOX era is the nadir of baseball on network TV. The competence of their personalities is severely limited, their self-promotion crass, and their presentation far too busy for a game like baseball*

5. The extended post-season. The Summer Game was not meant to be played in the near grasp of winter.

*I recently saw a large chunk of the 1984 Game Five (Tigers clinch over Padres) with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola. Scully narrated the game brilliantly, let big moments speak for themselves by allowing the crowd noise to dominate, while Garagiola added a mixture of humor, analysis and story-telling. It was baseball front and center, with limited network promotions and few graphics (of course part of that is based on technology). In any event, it presented a startling contrast to the typical FOX presentation. It was like, "Aha! This is how it is supposed to be! What happened on the way to the 21st Century!?!?!?!"

[ey215]

I also think to some extent MLB and the networks have put a few too many eggs in one (two) basket with their over-hype of the Yankees and Red Sox. I'm curoius as to what extent the move from the Wednesday night doubleheader to one game may have hurt them.

In the past you were pretty much going to have a west coast game on national TV every week, that is no longer the case.

[Skipaway]

Originally Posted by The Professor

1. Ratings are generally down across the entire industry, no?

Yeah, they are breaking low water marks for broadcast TV viewing every year now.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060711/ap/d8iq1l8g0.html

It's probably the one real factor.