Viewership of Astros takes a dramatic leap
World Series ratings a far cry from ’14; MLB Network’s Kenny on board early
Not only have the Astros gone from 100 losses to 100 wins in a season, they’ve now gone from zero viewers to more than a million.
The former, admittedly, is something of an exaggeration. Even in their worst days, at least a few hundred people watched Astros games on the now departed Comcast SportsNet Houston. It’s just that none of them had Nielsen meters, so the ratings service measured a few games in 2013-14 with 0.0 Nielsen household ratings.
If that was a symbol of the worst of times for the Astros, consider a new symbol for a new team: More than a million viewers in the 20-county Houston area tuned in for World Series Games 1 and 2 on Fox’s KRIV (Channel 26). The average number of viewers in Houston from Games 1 and 2 was 1.146 million.
They got their money’s worth Wednesday night. After a 3-1 Dodgers win that was the quickest Series game in elapsed time since 1992, the Astros won an 11-inning Game 2 marathon that was, in the words of MLB Network anchor Greg Amsinger, the greatest Game 2 in Series history.
With ratings of 28.6 for Game 1 and 30.0 for Game 2, and with three games coming up in Houston, the Series could top a 30 rating locally. That’s down from local numbers that topped out in the low 40s in 2005, the only other time the Astros played in the World Series, but that’s another generation or three removed in terms of TV viewership norms.
Viewership started off slowly in Houston for Game 2, no doubt affected by the lengthy pregame ceremonies featuring the great announcer Vin Scully. They almost doubled by game’s end, though, with the final hour and 45 minutes topping a 30.0 rating.
Part of the process
MLB Network host Brian Kenny is getting a considerable kick out of the Astros’ success using sabermetrics and advanced statistical analysis to go from 100 losses to 100 wins.
Kenny moved in the fall of 2011 from ESPN to MLB Network and began hosting a show on sabermetrics at about the time the Astros hired Jeff Luhnow as general manager and began rebuilding the player base from the ground up.
“I thought at the time that this team will be a powerhouse in five years, and I was laughed at. It was a laughable statement. I caught a lot of friction,” Kenny said. “But I kept putting my chin out there and saying ‘you wait and see.’
“Could I have predicted they would be in the World Series in five years? No, but the fact that it happened, yes, I will pounce on that. … I believed in their process and their approach most every step of the way.”
Kenny displayed a Tshirt from the Bo Porter managerial era with the word “Process,” which became a buzzword for the Astros’ long, slow rebuild.
“In 2012-13, when they were losing all those games, they would say, ‘Oh, no, we’re winning. You just haven’t seen it yet,’ It’s important to have that,” Kenny said. “The Astros were talking about devoting themselves to the process: Make the best decisions every day, and results will come. They just might not come that day, but don’t react to lack of success that day. React to your overall vision.
“That is difficult to do, but I believed in that. You have to wait for results. To build something lasting, it takes years. We have seen it now with the Astros and Cubs. It is tough to turn things around overnight. What the Astros have now will be sustainable.”
Four DVRs, no waiting
One of the pleasures of a Fox telecast is waiting for the occasional factoid from Steve Horn, Fox Sports’ editorial consultant, Among them was the brisk pace of World Series Game 1 and the fact that Game 2 came on the anniversary of the Astros’ last extra-inning World Series game, the 14-inning loss to the White Sox decided by a home run from Geoff Blum, who now calls Astros games for AT&T SportsNet Southwest. …
Among the hosannas sung for Vin Scully’s appearance came this one from former Astros announcer Jerry Trupiano that indicates Scully’s modesty. “I was going to introduce myself to Vin (and) as I walked up to him before I could say a word he said “Hi Jerry, I’m Vin.” … Fox is using the World Series to trot out the occasional six-second advertisement. Game 2 also featured a botched digital insert ad from MasterCard that blacked out George Springer’s upper torso while he made a catch in center. …
The six American League Championship Series games that aired on FS1 averaged 549,000 viewers in Houston, including 903,000 for the Astros’ Saturday night Game 7 clincher. … Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon will call the Texans-Seahawks game Sunday afternoon on KHOU (Channel 11), a rare 3:05 p.m. start for the Texans. … Texas-TCU has been set for 6:15 p.m. Nov. 4 on ESPN. East CarolinaHouston will kick off at 11 a.m. that day on CBS Sports Network. CBS’ SEC doubleheader is South Carolina-Georgia at 2:30 p.m. and LSU-Alabama at 7 p.m.