Major League baseball is spinning its low television ratings. After getting "stuck" with the World Series the advertisers didn't want (San Francisco vs. Texas, just in case you missed it, instead of New York and Philadelphia), they have managed to give the event an interesting perspective. It's "an increase of +8% when compared to the 2008 World Series which had teams of similar combined market size." And for advertisers size matters, right?
Maybe it shouldn't. I think there is something to be said for quality over quantity. I know some pretty die hard Giant fans (in fact my brother-in-law from the Bay area was at our house for games one and two) and they were INTO it. I'm sure Ranger fans were as well. And while it wasn't the Yankees and the Phillies (two huge markets) again, it also..... wasn't the Yankees and the Phillies again. The Giants hadn't won a World Series since 1954 and the Rangers had never made it that far. Their fans were excited and focused.
The goal of advertising is to get people's attention. If I'm looking to get or expand my business, I'd rather have 14 million excited, focused, dedicated viewers than 20 million who view the experience as just another World Series. And I'm guessing that most fans of the Giants and the Rangers were glued to the set.
So don't worry World Series advertisers, you did okay. Now if only your ads weren't so ridiculously asinine. That's a topic for another day.
Memo to Fox Sports: the 5th inning is a little early for the constant intense fan- in-the-stands shots. Several times you missed the action with your obsession with the candid fan pics (actually, that wasn't the problem - because you missed the action, I missed the action). If I want to people watch for several hours, I'll go to the mall or the airport.
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