According to a report in the Sports Business Journal this week, the Washington Nationals ranked last in all of baseball in average local TV audience for the 2011 season at just 29,000 homes per game. While the numbers were dismal, there may be some hope for the Nationals in the future.
They saw their ratings double in September with the success of the team and return of pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Washington’s winning month helped lead to a third-place finish in the East while just falling short of the .500 mark.
If we go back four years, the Capitals ratings were lower than the Nationals. But that changed once the Caps developed a winning team behind one of the biggest stars in the sport.
As they began to win, casual fans started to tune in on a regular basis. Mixing those viewers with the hard-core fans, the Capitals’ local TV ratings grew by more than 150 percent. The Capitals started the season Saturday night with a strong local ratings base on CSN and radio stations covering five states and the District. The network stretches from North Carolina to Harrisburg, Pa.
The Nationals have Strasburg and a very talented group of young stars to get the fans interested. As the Caps found out, now comes the hard part: winning consistently and contending for not only the playoffs but for a championship.
If the Nationals can be contenders for the playoffs, then the ratings will take care of themselves. Otherwise, viewers will find something else to watch.
Nationals not alone
While Washington struggled with ratings, Baltimore didn’t do much better. An average of 33,000 homes watched Orioles games, which tied with the Oakland A’s for the lowest average audience in the American League.
The two area teams weren’t the only ones that saw disappointing figures in the Sports Business Journal report.
Three of the Nationals’ NL East foes — the Braves, Mets and Marlins — saw double-digit declines in local television ratings.
The Nationals’ audience was down 4.7 percent from last year, while the Phillies had the best ratings in the National League.
The Nationals’ local rating of 1.22 on MASN/MASN2 was actually higher than both Los Angles teams — the Angles and Dodgers — who each had a local rating of 1.14. But with L.A. being the nation’s second-largest television market, the Dodgers and Angels averaged more viewers than the Nationals at about 65,000 households per game.
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
