With two teams that have strong regional followings, Game 1 of the World Series saw a higher viewership for Fox than in 2012. The Game drew an 8.6 rating St. Louis at Boston. That’s up significantly from the 7.6 for last year’s opener which featured the Detroit Tigers at San Francisco Giants.
In addition, the game drew 14.4 million viewers which is up 18% from last year’s 12.2 million. Compared to 2011 between St. Louis and Texas, World Series Game 1 was down. The 2011 opener drew an 8.7 rating, but fewer viewers (14.174 million).
Locally, Boston saw a 39.7 rating which topped all local markets. St. Louis saw a 36.0.
Here’s the official MLB press release.
WORLD SERIES OFF TO STRONG START
Game 1 Dominates on Television and Social Media
Building off the momentum from a Postseason that saw TV ratings increase for every round, Game 1 of the World Series delivered a significant audience on television and dominated the conversation on social media, topping all competition in both areas by a wide margin.
Game 1 drew 14.4 million viewers, up +18% over Game 1 in 2012 and ranking as the most watched World Series opener since 2010, despite the lopsided victory by the Red Sox. The game drew an 8.6 fast national rating according to Nielsen, leading FOX to an easy win in primetime and topping the second place network by +37% in the metered markets. Viewership peaked during the second inning with 16.9 million viewers before the Red Sox pulled away.
In Boston, the game drew a 39.7 rating, the highest mark for a Red Sox game since Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS. In St. Louis, the game drew a 36.0 rating, best for any Cardinals game since Game 6 of the 2012 NLCS. In both markets, the rating peaked early in the game before the score became lopsided.
The game was also the most talked about television program all day on Wednesday by a very wide margin. According to data from SocialGuide, the game drew 793,332 tweets from 359,992 authors, more than three times as many as the next most talked about show (+252%). Carlos Beltran was mentioned in more than 63,000 tweets, topping all players.
Game 2 of the World Series tonight begins at 8:00pm ET on FOX.
That’s all.
