In Houston, we’ve become pretty good about projecting defiance over anything remotely resembling shade toward the Houston Astros, even if said shade is really just statistical fact. Three years of fending off “trash can banging” insults will make a fan base defensive. So prepare yourself, definite Astros fan, fox this is not shade, but merely statistical fact.
The 2022 World Series, which finished up on Saturday night with the Astros winning their second world title by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies four games to two, pulled in the second lowest World Series television ratings in the history of television’s existence. From The Athletic:
The Astros’ six-game series win over the Phillies averaged 11.78 million viewers on Fox, and 12.03 million combined viewers (Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming), the network said, which are fine numbers amid the harsh realities of the modern TV universe but still makes for one of the least-watched World Series on record.
In fact, it trails only 2020’s pandemic-affected Fox TV-only 9.94-million-viewer average (Dodgers over Rays). Last year’s six-game Braves win over the Astros averaged 11.94 million for the network, which has aired the World Series since 2000.
I’m sure that anybody reading this in Houston is saying “How can this be? What are the reasons? I mean, this World Series had EVERYTHING, right? Major comebacks, star power, a no hitter, and by God, Jose Altuve is as lovable as the day is long! What gives???”
All valid points, defiant Astros fan, for sure. For some context, in 2017, the Astros and Dodgers pulled in an audience of 22.22 million for Game 6, and 28.24 million for Game 7. The total television viewership for Game 6 on Saturday night was 12.87 million. That’s a massive dip over a five year period. So let’s go through a few of the hypotheses that I’ve heard from experts and other media members as to why this decline has occurred (knowing full well it’s like a combo of all these things):
The nation hates the Astros, and thus doesn’t want to watch them!
It’s true, there is still a lot of animosity out there for the Astros. however, this hypothesis on lower ratings holds the least amount of water for me. Maybe it’s the WWE fan in me, but my feeling is always that I am MORE inclined to watch a team (or player or wrestler) that I hate, because I want to see the villain lose. Maybe some of the haters got discouraged after Cristian Javier led the Astros to a no hitter in Game 4, and they realized the Phillies were screwed. I’ll entertain that, but that only impacts a third of the series, Games 5 and 6.
The rainout for Monday’s Game 3 pushed the schedule back a day and right into Thursday Night Football!
This one does hold some water for me (no pun intended). Sure, on paper, it was just moving one conflict with the NFL (Monday Night Football) onto another NFL day (Thursday night, which would have been a travel day, if the rain out had not occurred), but that Thursday night was a prime time game involving two teams from the EXACT same cities as the two World Series team. That had to do some damage.
Modern day viewing habits, and the plethora of content out there is a problem for almost anyone trying to pull numbers!
This is a big one for practically any entertainment entity in the marketplace, expect the NFL, which keeps chugging along and destroying everything in its path ratings-wise. There is SO much content out there, through regular television and streaming on different apps, that the audience has never been more divided. Additionally, there has never been a greater ability to view things on demand via DVR functionality, or view live sporting events in condensed versions on YouTube. In short, we are a long way from EVERYONE having to make an appointment at 7:03 p.m. for the first pitch.
Baseball’s popularity is dipping!
This one may be true depending on how you measure popularity. Obviously, if you measure it by TV ratings, then the sky is falling! However, Patrick Crakes, a media analyst and former FOX executive sums up the state of baseball’s business:
That context is important when analyzing the World Series, he added, noting that baseball expects to make about $11 billion this season.
“MLB has never made so much money, never reached so many people,” Crakes said. “Even with the regional sports network problems, it reaches more people than ever.”
The bottom line is baseball has a TV viewership problem, but it’s hardly something that is symptomatic of foundational cracks that are about to ruin the sport.
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
