Subway Series Promises Big Ratings
Yankees-Mets Games Drive Big Numbers
By Jason Braff -- Multichannel News, 6/14/2007 10:32:00 AM
Winning streaks and losing streaks don’t seem to be hindering the skyrocketing ratings both Major League Baseball's New York Yankees and Mets are experiencing this summer. Heading into this weekend’s much-anticipated Subway Series between the crosstown rivals, both teams are expecting home-run ratings.
While the Yankees got off to their un-Yankee-like start this season (they won only five games in an 18 game stretch in May), their ratings certainly aren’t showing it. In fact, the Yankees this season -- who own a 33-31 record as of Friday -- are averaging a 4.5 household rating (439,000 viewers) on Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, compared with a 4.3 rating in 2005 and 2006 -- a 4% increase.
It doesn’t hurt that the Yankees are red-hot, winning their last nine games heading into the Subway Series.
The Mets, on the other hand, who got off to a torrid 34-18 mark by the end of May, have not had such luck in June. Although they have only won two of their 12 games in June, their ratings are still solid and consistent. Season to date, the Mets are averaging a 2.96 rating and 224,000 households on SportsNet New York, the network that carries the bulk of Mets games.
In fact, SNY is reporting a 18% increase in ratings this season.
The Mets are also no strangers to viewership increases. SNY, which began carrying Mets games in 2006, claimed a 93% increase in viewership that season (2.9 rating) compared to the Mets’ overall rating of 1.5 on various Madison Square Garden networks in 2005. Adding an average of more than 98,000 viewers in 2006 from the previous year was the largest average increase on a regional sports network in MLB that season.
Factoring in the success of the first Subway Series this season, on top of the fact the Yankees have finished first in their market time-slot for their past seven games, there is no doubt the upcoming series between the rivals will make a splash in the ratings. However, only one of the three Subway Series games (June 16) will be televised by YES and none by SNY.
On May 18, 589,000 viewers tuned in to YES to watch the Yankees square off with the Mets for a 6.2 rating. The same night, 470,000 viewers two-plus tuned on to SNY, scoring a 4.1 rating the same night -- a 41% increase versus last year’s Mets-Yankees telecast.
YES director of communications Eric Handler accredits their high ratings to the Yankees recent turnaround on the field. Handler also believes the reason for the spike in ratings for many baseball carrying networks has to do with the growing “bond between local players and their local fans. There are a lot of great story lines going on -- all the more reason to turn on the game every night,” he said.
