After the Texas Rangers eliminated the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies, it was assumed nationwide that TV ratings for the World Series would be low and unimpressive. That was the speculation for a solid several days, and now that Game 1's in the books, we can add some actual numbers to the conversation. And according to the actual numbers, ratings for Wednesday night's Game 1 were down 25% from where they were a year ago, when the Phillies and Yankees went head-to-head.
World Series Game 1 Ratings Nearly Compete With Police Procedural Drama
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FOX executives have been quick to note that the ratings were on par with where they were in 2008, when the Phillies took on the Tampa Bay Rays, but that makes for a misleading point of comparison, as 2008's World Series pitted an established, popular team in a major media market against a team that someone made up a week before after the Red Sox declined an invitation.
↵We’ll see how the ratings go as the rest of the 2010 World Series schedule plays out, but one must note that, in Game 1’s second hour, the World Series lost to Criminal Minds, which is a television show, while barely beating out Modern Family and drawing just nine million more viewers than an episode of Law & Order: SVU. Which seems like a healthy margin until you realize that the SVU episode was a repeat. This is Dick Wolf’s world. We’re just living in it.
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