MLB concedes Rockies-DBacks ratings stink

[chisox]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/sports/baseball/15rockies.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Quote:

Although DuPuy said ratings for the first round of playoffs were strong, he said the audience size for the first two games of the N.L.C.S. had not been as good.

“So far, they have not measured up,” DuPuy said, adding that accurate figures would not be available until Monday.
Part of the reason for low ratings, he said, was “these are two young teams the nation doesn’t know that much about yet.”

“We’re hoping if this were to be a long series, the ratings would grow with the story line,” he said
DuPuy played down the idea that the games’ being broadcast on cable was an issue, saying, about “93 percent or 94 percent” of the nation had access to cable television.

DuPuy is truly an idiot.

Of course games being on cable is an issue. There is a reason that the most watched telecasts of the year are all on broadcast.

93-94% of US homes have ACCESS to cable but it doesn't mean they have it. Many seniors can only afford "basic" which is just the broadcast channels and local access.


Last season ONE game on cable cracked the Top 100 program list and it was a ESPN Monday Night game ( it doesn't say which one )

http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/ViewerTrack/FullSeason/06-07-season-hh.asp

Tonight they are starting Game 4 in Denver after 10 PM in the East. That is insanity....Boston/Cleveland should have started at 4 in the east and then the game in Denver at 8. But Fox doesn't want to lose the money their local stations make running news, Seinfeld and Simpsons reruns.

First of all the fact is almost 70% of the US lives in the eastern and central time zones. When you have games ending at close to 2 AM they can't be included in most morning newspapers.

What was MLB thinking yesterday to have the game in Denver start at 8:30 Eastern time on a Sunday. You allow NBC a head start with Sunday Night Football which is folly.

Having a 10:10 PM Eastern start for a NLCS on a weekday night is beyond insanity. People DO have to work the next day and will not stay up to 2 AM for a team they have no rooting interest in.

Last year during the LCS series I was in Seattle and I found I loved the games starting at 5 PM local time. Even if they went 4 hours they were over by 9-9:30.

Yet how many Mets fans fell asleep back in NY.

[b-ball-lunachick]

MLB must be praying that the Red Sox make it in to the World Series..

[Mr. Mxylsplk]

MLB must be praying that the Red Sox make it in to the World Series..

Yeah, losing both the yankees and Sox would be really tough. Neither of those NL teams has anyone of national note. I mean, they have some guys who deserve to be national names, but none of them really are. Cleveland's a little better, but if Sizemore and Hafner are better known than Holliday or Webb, they're still a far cry from Manny and Papi. If Colorado sweeps, that will keep some intrigue alive with them being undefeated through the playoffs, but that's not enough for the general lack of interest in the teams.

[4bronxbombers]

Yeah, losing both the yankees and Sox would be really tough. Neither of those NL teams has anyone of national note. I mean, they have some guys who deserve to be national names, but none of them really are. Cleveland's a little better, but if Sizemore and Hafner are better known than Holliday or Webb, they're still a far cry from Manny and Papi. If Colorado sweeps, that will keep some intrigue alive with them being undefeated through the playoffs, but that's not enough for the general lack of interest in the teams.

I think about the group of people I hang with and I'll bet I'm the only one watching the National games. Everyone I know is interested in the East only.

[cupcollector99]

MLB deserves a Colorado/Cleveland or an Arizona/Cleveland World Series.
They jam teams like NY that are successful in leveraging their media markets into additional revenue that can be used to place a better team on the field by taking away their product sales, and confiscating their profits to redistribute it to lesser franchises that don't reinvest.
Without the Yankees and the largest media market in the country, the world series is just more stuff interrupting fall TV shows.

Not that the fact the Yankees play in NY should guarantee them anything, that would be absurd, but to jam them they way they do in the name of "income equity" is equally absurd.

[jlw1980]

MLB deserves a Colorado/Cleveland or an Arizona/Cleveland World Series.
They jam teams like NY that are successful in leveraging their media markets into additional revenue that can be used to place a better team on the field by taking away their product sales, and confiscating their profits to redistribute it to lesser franchises that don't reinvest.
Without the Yankees and the largest media market in the country, the world series is just more stuff interrupting fall TV shows.

Not that the fact the Yankees play in NY should guarantee them anything, that would be absurd, but to jam them they way they do in the name of "income equity" is equally absurd.

Cheers to you. Well said.

[Mezmerize]

MLB deserves a Colorado/Cleveland or an Arizona/Cleveland World Series.
They jam teams like NY that are successful in leveraging their media markets into additional revenue that can be used to place a better team on the field by taking away their product sales, and confiscating their profits to redistribute it to lesser franchises that don't reinvest.
Without the Yankees and the largest media market in the country, the world series is just more stuff interrupting fall TV shows.

Not that the fact the Yankees play in NY should guarantee them anything, that would be absurd, but to jam them they way they do in the name of "income equity" is equally absurd.

Wow, I actually agree with you CC99! Incredible!

[the_coach]

If they started these games at 4PM instead of 10PM, I would watch them...I bet it would get better ratings too.

[4bronxbombers]

I know....I'm so bummed the game doesn't start til 10pm. What a drag.

[tdel23]

with a 10pm start time, who on the east coast is going to watch this game, very asinine start time by MLB

[sprucemoose]

with a 10pm start time, who on the east coast is going to watch this game, very asinine start time by MLB

Aren't they in a lose lose situation when both games are on the same night? People would complain if they ran both games at the same time, and people would complain if they played one of the games in the afternoon. No matter what, they have a tough decision in scheduling games so as many people as possible can watch.

[Pepper03]

Games are too late.

[Prison Mike]

The games are on cable, and they don't start until 10pm.

What do they expect?

[rogue588]

The games are on cable, and they don't start until 10pm.

What do they expect?

Yeah, that makes no sense whatsoever.

[jlw1980]

The games are on cable, and they don't start until 10pm.

What do they expect?

Don't forget that virtually nobody gives a rat's ass about these two teams.

[the_coach]

Don't forget that virtually nobody gives a rat's ass about these two teams.

Yeah, but I would watch them if they were on during 'happy hour'....

[Logan]

That'd be great if the 2008 WS was between the D-rays and Marlins.

[26 and counting]

That'd be great if the 2008 WS was between the D-rays and Marlins.

I could watch that. I could definitely get behind the D-rays if they got that far.

[CalYankeeFan]

I agree with the poster who pointed out "access" and "subscribing" are two different things. I was on a trip this weekend, and the cable system didn't have TBS.

[NelsonMuntz]

Putting the games on TBS was just a dumb move.

[Yankees Empire]

ESPN and Fox shove the Yankees and Red Sox down everybody's throats (with MLB's blessing) and hype those matchups to the nth degree and when those teams are removed, they're shocked when nobody watches.

Duh.

10pm start times on the East Coast are suicidal. MLB allows start times like that and people are suprised that fewer and fewer little kids are getting into baseball. Games that last 13 1/2 hours certainly don't help either.

Morons.

[Dave Visbeck]

How bout dem Rockies anyway!

[Dynasties R Forever]

So the ratings sucked AND it ends in the least possible time. Awesome!

[fredgmuggs]

So the ratings sucked AND it ends in the least possible time. Awesome!

I hope MLB is giving TBS a rebate because they were stiffed. All series sweeps except the Yankees/Indians series and they had the pleasure of broadcasting the NLCS Rockies/Diamondbacks ratings bonanza beginning at 10PM back east. TBS must be ecstatic over their good fortune.

[Rocketman]

Many people in the United States believe there are only three time zones in the United States: Eastern, Central, and Pacific. Many forget about Mountain Time Zone, if only because there are so few "important" cities there, and almost no broadcasts.

Amazing, then, that the only two major league cities in Mountain Time were playing each other in the NLCS.

[Mr. Mxylsplk]

Amazing, then, that the only two major league cities in Mountain Time were playing each other in the NLCS.

Sort of. Yes, they're both mountain standard time, but AZ doesn't observe daylight saving, so currently they're the same time as the pacific time zone, one hour earlier than Colorado.

[yankeesnumber1]

The ratings will be in the toilet if its Indians vs Rockies.

[Rocketman]

I hope the ratings ARE in the toilet. That's the only way that MLB is going to realize how badly they need the big market teams.

[VanHalen5150]

I hope the ratings ARE in the toilet. That's the only way that MLB is going to realize how badly they need the big market teams.

So what exactly is MLB going to do once they "realize" this?

[SoCal Pinstriper]

TBS' first-ever coverage of the playoffs produced the four lowest ratings ever for prime-time League Championship Series games. Its games averaged 2.8% of U.S. TV households for the Colorado Rockies sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series. Consider what else is in that ratings ballpark: In college football, ESPN's most recent coverage of the Emerald Bowl drew 3.7%, its Chick-Fil-A Bowl 4%. In golf, CBS' final-round telecast of the Nissan Open, Wachovia Championship and Bridgestone Invitational each drew 3.4%. And baseball this year got better ratings with ESPN's Home Run Derby (4.3%) and ABC's Little League World Series final (3.3%).

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...-ratings_N.htm

[nnysiny]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colum...-ratings_N.htm

i knew they would be bad, but those numbers are astounding, especially the first sentence of your quote