Yankees-Red Sox Still Rates High
Strong Nielsen Marks for YES, NESN, Fox, ESPN
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 4/23/2007 12:54:00 PM
The latest chapter in Major League Baseball’s most-heralded rivalry drew plenty of eyeballs in New York, Boston and around the country this weekend.
Regional sports networks Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network’s and New England Sports Network’s coverage of the New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox played big Friday night, while Fox and ESPN rang up their best regular-season ratings in years during a Fenway Park series swept by the Bosox.
As Mariano Rivera and the Yankees bullpen frittered away a lead Friday night forged by a pair of homers from Alex Rodriguez, YES averaged a 6.1 household rating in the New York DMA (450,000 homes), peaking with an 8.3 (614,000) from 10:15 p.m.-10:30 p.m., according to Nielsen Media Research data.
The 7-6 loss for the Bronx Bombers April 20 was not only YES’ highest-rated and most-watched Yankees telecast of 2007, but it held the same distinction in the New York market, besting such broadcast-network fare as Fox’s House (3.4 household rating in the DMA) and Bones (3.0); CBS’ Ghost Whisperer (4.6) and Numbers (4.0); NBC’s Law & Order (4.8); and ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (3.1) and 20/20 (4.6).
In Beantown, NESN rang up an 18.3 rating in the Boston DMA (439,200 homes), peaking with a 21.3 rating, making the contest the RSN’s top Sox telecast of the current campaign and seventh-highest-rated telecast ever, according to network officials. With the Bosox earning the first of three come-from-behind wins over the weekend, NESN’s Friday postgame show notched an 8.8 household mark.
Late Saturday afternoon, Fox delivered a 3.6 household/9 share in 54 metered markets (the game was pre-empted in Louisville, Ky.), topping all of the network’s regular-season marks thus far in 2007 and 2006.
According to a Major League Baseball spokeswoman, Boston’s 7-5 win April 21 was Fox’s best-regular season rating since Oct. 1, 2005, when the broadcaster presented regional coverage of four games with playoff implications.
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, meanwhile, scored a 4.0 cable household rating during Boston’s 7-6 triumph April 22, the network’s best regular-season rating since the 4.4 posted by Yanks-Sox July 25, 2004.
In the Boston DMA, the game delivered a 24.7/39 rating, the top Nielsens ever for ESPN and NESN for a regular-season contest.
The previous best in Beantown: NESN’s May 1, 2006, coverage of Johnny Damon’s return to Fenway (also Doug Mirabelli’s), which pulled a 22.3 DMA rating, according to a NESN spokesman.
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