World Series Draws Record Low Ratings
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NEW YORK — The Bay Area World Series was a flop on television, as ratings plunged to their lowest levels in at least 21 years.
Oakland’s four-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants on ABC averaged a 16.4 rating, according statistics released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.
A 16.4 rating means that the Series was being watched by 16.4% of the nation’s 93 million-plus television households.
Game 4 Saturday night was the lowest-rated prime-time World Series game ever, getting a 14.7 rating and a 28 share. It was outdrawn by three programs on NBC: “Golden Girls,” “Empty Nest” and “Hunter.”
The Bay Area Series got a 29 share, meaning that fewer than three of 10 sets on at the time had baseball tuned in.
Before this year, the lowest-rated prime-time game was in 1987, when Game 1 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins got a 19.2 rating.
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