WORLD SERIES GAME 1 DRIVES FOX TO PRIME TIME RATINGS WIN

MLB 10/22/2014

Kansas City – The San Francisco Giants and starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner dominated the upstart Kansas City Royals to take Game 1 of the 2014 World Series 7-1 last night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and viewership of the spectacle led FOX to dominate the night.

Game 1 of the 2014 World Series notched a 7.3/12 household rating share, with 12.2 million viewers, according to fast national figures issued today by Nielsen, and ranks as FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched prime time broadcast since an edition of AMERICAN IDOL in February. Additional points follow:

From 8:05 to 11:00 PM ET, FOX averaged a 7.7/13 with 12.8 million viewers, and once final nationals are issued, it projects to win the night in prime time (A18-49) and to be the network’s best Tuesday night performance in over two-and-a-half years (Feb. 2012).
FOX Deportes’ coverage of World Series Game 1 averaged 273,000 total viewers, the most for a World Series game in Spanish language television history, +77% (273,000 vs. 154,000) vs. Game 1 last year, and +81% (273,000 vs. 151,000) vs. Game 1 in 2012, the last time San Francisco competed in the Fall Classic. When viewership on FOX Deportes is combined with FOX, the total average audience for Game 1 is 12.5 million viewers, down from 14.4 million viewers for Game 1 last year, while up compared to Game 1 in 2012 (12.2 million viewers).
Ratings in the two competing markets were nothing short of spectacular. Kansas City led all markets, posting a 48.2/68, the best rating for World Series Game 1 in any market since 2007, while San Francisco registered a 29.3/50. Sacramento posted a 23.0/37, followed by St. Louis (13.3/20) and Las Vegas (11.1/19) to round out the top five.
Viewership for Game 1 would have greatly benefitted from a more competitive contest. Initial tune-in was a 6.9/12 from 8:05-8:30 PM ET, with ratings peaking at 8.5/14 from 9:00-9:30 PM ET as the Royals threatened but failed to score in the home third. Ratings decreased throughout the evening as the Giants extended their lead to 7-0 and finished off with a 5.7/12 from 11:30-11:41 PM ET.
World Series Game 1 broke records for FOX Sports GO, reaching a new best day ever for authenticated viewership. Yesterday’s reach outperforms the prior record-holding day (Oct. 12, 2014, Game 2 of the NLCS) by 13%. FOX Sports GO was downloaded more yesterday than any weekday since its launch on iOS.

Live coverage of World Series Game 2 begins tonight on AMERICA’S PREGAME on FOX Sports 1 at 6:00 PM ET before shifting to Kansas City at 7:30 PM ET on the FOX broadcast network, FOX Deportes and streaming live on FOX Sports GO at 7:30 PM ET.