World Series Audience Off to Best Start Since 2010
While Game 1 was punctuated with late-night drama, Game 2 of the 2015 World Series goes down in baseball lore for the dominant performance of Kansas City Royals starter Johnny Cueto who made it a game to remember, tossing a two-hit complete game, befuddling a strong New York Mets offense and leading the Royals to a 7-1 victory and an enviable 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
According the fast national figures release this afternoon by Nielsen, the game posted an 8.2/14 household rating/share, with 13.7 million viewers, a +4% increase in rating and +6% in average audience compared to Game 2 a year ago (Giants-Royals, 7.9/14, 12.9 million), making it the most-watched World Series Game 2 since 2011 (Rangers-Cardinals, 14.3 million).
World Series Game 2 Highlights:
- The World Series powered FOX to its second consecutive first place household finish in prime time (preliminary): FOX - 8.2/14; CBS - 4.7/8; NBC - 4.1/7; and ABC - 3.8/6.
- FOX also won the night in prime time among Adults 18-49 (3.9) and Adults 18-34 (3.0).
- FOX averaged an 8.2/14 and 13.7 million viewers in prime time (8:04-11:00 PM ET), which projects to be the network’s best performance for a Wednesday night since March of 2015.
- Last night’s game on FOX posted healthy increases across key demos, with male teens doubling last year’s measurement: M12-17, +100% (2.2 vs. 1.1); M12-24, +12% (2.9 vs. 2.6); M18-49, +9% (4.9 vs. 4.5); M25-54, +14% (5.7 vs. 5.0) and A18-49, +15% (3.9 vs. 3.4).
- Ratings and audience peaked at a 9.5/15, 15.8 million viewers from 9:45-10:00 PM ET.
- FOX averaged an 8.4/14, with 14.0 million from 10:15-10:30 PM ET then jumped back up to a 9.0/15, with 15.0 million from 10:30-10:45 which coincided with the conclusion of the GOP Debate.
- The Spanish-language telecast on FOX Deportes posted 183,000 viewers, and peaked in the 9:30-9:45 PM ET quarter hour at 260,000 viewers.
World Series To-Date
- The 2015 World Series is averaging an 8.7/16 and 14.5 million viewers, +14% in rating and +16% in audience over last year’s two game averages (7.6/13, 12.5 million).
- The World Series is off to its highest-rated two-game average since 2011 (8.8/14) and most-watched since 2010 (14.6 million).
- Notable year-to-year demographics increases: M12-17, +43% (2.0 vs. 1.4); M12-24, +33% (3.2 vs. 2.4); M18-34, +10% (4.3 vs. 3.9); M18-49, +27% (5.6 vs. 4.4); M25-54, +28% (6.4 vs. 5.0) and A18-49, +26% (4.3 vs. 3.4).
World Series Game 2 Local Highlights:
- Kansas City again led all markets with a 56.6 rating, followed by New York (21.3).
- St. Louis (17.5), Hartford (12.6), Richmond (10.8), Tulsa (10.0), Greensboro (9.9), Denver and Milwaukee (9.3), and Las Vegas (9.1) round out the top 10 rated markets.
