World Series Ratings Low Is No Reason For “Grand Statements” About Major League Baseball’s Decline, Fox Exec Michael Mulvihill Says; 2024 Outlook Is “Unchanged”
deadline.comFox President of Insight and Analytics Michael Mulvihill said the all-time low rating for the World Series this year is no cause for alarm for Major League Baseball or his network. “Obviously, it’s more fun when ratings are up and the Series goes 6 or 7 games,” the exec wrote in a thread on Twitter/X, “but the expectations for MLB in 2024 are unchanged.” The 119th edition of baseball’s Fall Classic, which ended Wednesday with the Texas Rangers claiming the first Series crown in their history, drew the smallest audience in history.
The five-game victory by Texas over the Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 9.11 million viewers, according to Fox and Nielsen, worse than the previous low of 9.79 million for the LA Dodgers’ win in Covid-stricken 2020.
Fox first carried the Series in 1996 and became its exclusive network home in 2000. Part of the issue this year was the Series lasting only five games, as tune-in generally improves as games are required to settle the best-of-seven matchup.
The Rangers and Diamondbacks are also teams with decidedly regional followings, and more marquee draws like the Dodgers, Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves were eliminated in the playoffs.
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