ESPN likes watching its viewership numbers rise
by Kevin White
In the TV world, numbers are often manipulated by an organization to trumpet its product.
But regardless of how much that is being done by ESPN, you can’t argue the amount of interest in this year’s College World Series.
The first six games of the CWS from June 17 to 19 averaged a total live audience — which includes TV and streaming — of 923,000 viewers. That’s the highest since 2011, and according to ESPN, the third best on record.
At the bottom of its release, it notes that its records go back to 1994.
Don’t know about you, but I wasn’t streaming the CWS in 1994. Nonetheless, that’s a lot of eyes on college baseball.
ESPN also said its viewership is up 95 percent from last season’s first six games and is on pace to be the most-streamed CWS.
It release also notes that among this year’s first six games, five were on ESPN and one on ESPN2. Among last year’s first six, one was on ESPN, three on ESPN2 and two on ESPNU. That’s not exactly apples to apples.
It’s also safe to say that the eyes of Louisiana are on Omaha. New Orleans is the highest-
rated local market through the first six games with a 7.1 local rating, followed by Louisville (2.8) and Portland, Oregon (2.1). For LSU’s first two games (Florida on June 17 and Oregon State on June 19), the New Orleans market earned local ratings of 14.4 and 14.0, respectively, the second- and third-highest in the market for any game since 2009.
Though Coastal Carolina’s Cinderella run to the national championship last year was a great story, the number of national powerhouses in Omaha this year like LSU couldn’t hurt the ratings, either.
http://www.omaha.com/sports/cws/esp...cle_15d1ae44-56eb-11e7-9db3-e36729c798a2.html
Go Hoosiers!