NEW YORK -- The 2003 World Series between the Florida Marlins and the New York Yankees finished as the third-lowest rated ever.
The six games posted an average national rating of 12.8 with a
22 share for Fox Sports. The only series with lower averages were
the 2000 series when the Yankees beat the New York Mets in five
games (12.4/21) and Anaheim's seven-game defeat of San Francisco
last season (11.9/20), which was the lowest-rated ever.
Florida's series-clinching 2-0 victory in Game 6 Saturday night
garnered a 13.9 national rating with a 25 share, an 18 percent jump
over last year.
Game 1 of the series got a 10.9/20; Game 2 a 12.6/20; Game 3 a
12.5/21; Game 4 a 13.6/23; and Game 5 a 13.2/21.
For the entire postseason, Fox averaged a 10.5 rating with an 18
share, the highest since 1995 and an increase of 28 percent
over last year's 8.2/14.
The ratings for the first two rounds this year were also the
highest since 1999, helped by a combination of close games and
teams from markets with millions of viewers -- New York, Chicago and
Boston.
The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, even if they
are not in use. Each rating point represents 1,084,000 homes. The
share is the percentage of homes with sets in use.
Fox is in the third year of a $2.5 billion, six-year contract
with baseball.