FOX Is Now Praying For A Long World Series
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We all know that the Red Sox bring ratings, and I honestly thought that FOX would be crying after their loss Sunday night, but the network is surprisingly upbeat given the uphill ratings climb in front of them. According to President of Fox Sports, Ed Goren, the secret to their success lies not in the actual teams playing, but rather the length of said series. From Globe and Mail via SBD....
"It's not just about the matchup," Goren said. "As important as anything else is the number of games, the volume of games. If we get six or seven games in this matchup, we will out-rate last year's Red Sox World Series."While the talk of a longer series equaling better ratings isn't necessarily groundbreaking, it's still interesting to hear Fox flat out admit that's what they're hoping for. While I obviously want to see the most competitive World Series possible, there's a small part of me that wants to see Fox tank in the ratings. You know....just to see how bad it is.
The longer it goes, the larger the numbers get. If a network is fortunate enough to televise a seven-game series, the ratings for the latter games will pull up the overall average.
"These things build," Goren said. "It's water-cooler talk. It becomes must-see TV."
Still, if this Series is over in four games and the average rating dips to historic lows, Fox will be required to reimburse advertisers with additional ad spots on other shows.
Fox's advertising revenue won't be affected, because the commercial time was bought before the World Series teams were decided. A ratings decline this year, however, would affect 2009 prices.
The network is reportedly charging $475,000 (U.S.) for a 30-second spot.
Networks made their Red Sox-Yankees bed along time ago, and now they have to lie in it.
Mis-Matched? (Sports Business Daily - $)
Fox bullish despite weak matchup (Globe and Mail)
12 Comments:
They may be lying and/or cautiously optimistic. With all the talk of how low rated a Phils-Rays series would be before the series even started, it gives people a mindset that they won't care and that's it. Fox may just be trying to counter their mindset.
This is what happens when you spend all your time and money pimping a select few teams all year and none of those teams make the World Series. People would care about the Phillies and the Rays, if other people and the media outside of Philadelphia and St. Petersburg cared. Which, sadly (and wrongly), they don't. Exhibit 1: Joe Buck's fawning over the Dodgers in the NLCS.
It's a vicious circle: The networks see their ratings dip because people are going elsewhere for non-"big team" coverage, so what do they think will solve it? More coverage of "big teams," because they have the biggest fan base.
And so it goes...
I hope it's a 4 game Phillies sweep.
Neither are my favorite team, but I'm a Naional League guy.
*National
Hoping for the 1-2 punch of the World Series tanking and Obama winning the election. Then we can work on getting American Idol off the air and rid the world of the stain that is Fox.
TBS' Frank Caliendo said he wanted the DEVIL Rays - Sox series to go 10.
i watch for sports, not for ratings.
i hope the series is great and sets record low ratings.
f' em.
If it's a competitive series, they have a chance at decent ratings. Philly is a big market team and the angle of that city not having a title in two decades is a good one. And the Rays have become media darlings.
I could see good ratings if the series starts of 2-2.
You know, maybe if the major networks would have spent more time during the year not showing Boston, New York and the Cubs they might have developed some of these story lines and got more Average Joe Baseball fans to tune in for this series.
Another omen for this Series: During the season Fox aired 2 Rays games and 9 Mets games.
I'm crossing my fingers for no game 7.
Fox is scheduled to air an episode of Kitchen Nightmares I worked on that will be preempted for the third time if the WS goes 7.
At least they are being honest...I can respect that. Now if they would just admit that Tim McCarver was a terrible hire.