Phillies' local television viewership falls dramatically in 2012
A disappointing season on the field for the Phillies has led to a big drop in local television viewership for the team's games this year.
Phillies' local television viewership falls dramatically in 2012
Jonathan Tannenwald
A disappointing season on the field for the Phillies has led to a big drop in local television viewership for the team's games this year.
The Sports Business Journal's John Ourand and David Broughton published the magazine's annual survey of Major League Baseball's local TV ratings on Wednesday.
Ourand and Broughton's data was collected with about a week and a half left to go in the season.
As of that point, the Phillies had suffered the second-biggest decrease in ratings by percentage in Major League Baseball, falling 38.6 percent to a 5.61 average rating.
The team's average viewership had the biggest decrease by percentage in the majors, falling by 39.1 percent to 168,000 viewers per game.
Only the San Diego Padres had a bigger percentage drop in average audience size, falling 39.4 percent to 20,000 viewers per game. That is less than half of PETCO Park's capacity of 42,445.
(It's worth noting that the Padres' drop came mainly because of a carriage dispute which kept many Padres games off some local cable systems. The Phillies had no such problem.)
The Phillies' average local rating is still the seventh-highest in the the majors, and the fourth-highest in the National League. The team's average audience size is tied for the third-largest in the majors and is alone as the second-largest in the National League.
The six teams above the Phillies in terms of local ratings are the Detroit Tigers (9.13), the Cincinnati Reds (8.64), the St. Louis Cardinals (7.68), the Pittsburgh Pirates (6.52), the Boston Red Sox (6.43) and the Texas Rangers (5.88).
In the average viewership standings, the three teams above the Phillies are the New York Yankees (286,000), the New York Mets (173,000) and the Detroit Tigers (168,000).
All of these numbers come as the Phillies prepare to negotiate a new local television contract after this season. It will be interesting to see whether the decreases in ratings and viewers affect the amount of money the Phillies get in their next deal.
For what it's worth, the team that had the largest percentage increase in local ratings is the team that snatched the NL East crown from the Phillies. The Washington Nationals' ratings rose 74.0 percent to a 2.54 average.
It so happens that the Nationals are also going into a local TV contract negotiation after this season. The channel that broadcasts their games, MASN, is 87 percent owned by the Baltimore Orioles, with the Nationals owning the remaining stake.
The Orioles own the Nationals' TV rights because Bud Selig gave them to Baltimore owner Peter Angelos' as a condition for the Montréal Expos' move to D.C. Angelos spent years fighting bitterly to stop the nation's capital from getting a team of its own because he felt it would cut into the Orioles' fan base.
If the Nationals are able to get a better deal from Angelos, it surely won't make the Phillies' efforts to regain the division title any easier. All of the teams in the NL East are now flush with money, whether from stadiums, TV deals or both.
But that doesn't mean the Phillies' rivals have equally passionate fans. As long as Citizens Bank Park remains full (or close to it), Philadelphia will remain a place where top players want to play.
As for whether the Nationals' recent success will grow the team's still-nascent fan base, well... I think I'll leave that to others to judge.
The best thing they could do is bring Back Scott Graham , I think Scott was the only one who could replace Harry and Whitey . These current announcers are terrible . The Sarge , Tom , LA and Wheels need to go .— porkpig- Lots of comments saying it is because of the broadcasters. The broadcast teams have been set for how long now and just this season the ratings go down. Maybe it is because the team had a bad year and didn't make the playoffs?
Fans like to get all hot and bothered when accused of being "fair-weathered" or bandwagon jumpers. Well, here is your proof. The team did not win much this year so 1) the home sell-out streak ended and 2) TV viewership went down. If they won the NL East by 5 games neither of those would be true.
They start winning again, those numbers go up. Simple.— waldo08 - yes and no , Its much easier to watch the Phillies lose with a good broadcast team . I watched the Phils lose all through the 80's 90's and earl 00's because at the very least Harry Whitey and Scott Graham kept it interesting . — porkpig
- But the constant has been the broadcasing team. Why hasn't viewership been down the last 5 years with the same announcers that no one wants to watch now? These aren't new broadcasters they didn't suddenly get bad/annoying .. it is a new result on the field that has people watching something else at 7:05. — waldo08
- one of the unsung beauties of Harry and Whitey is they would let the natural sound of the game breathe a bit, so you felt the atmosphere of the ballpark. McCarthy talks INCESSANTLY so you never get that vibe anymore. that and you could do a drinking game for every time he says "and the side ... is retired"— Snake Pliskin
It has nothing to do with the broadcasters. I stopped watching in like July, and it was because the team stunk. And I watched alot of bad phillies baseball in the 90's because those teams were young and upcoming so there was some hope. This team is on the downswing, which is not exactly exciting for viewers, which is why it was down 36% or whatever. Stagnation will do that. A young up and coming team, even a bad one, is more exciting to watch then that.- certainly enjoyed Kalas and Ashburn more, but I do not mind McCarthy and Wheels. I think McCarthy is very good at asking questions of Wheels and Sarge that should strike up conversation, and also he is very good at explaining some of the intricate rules that casual fans may miss.
I also enjoy the radio crew, and would have no problem if they were the tv crew.
Unfortunately, Sarge is a problem. It hurts as he was an old favorite as a player, but as an announcer, he is painful to listen to.
— kgood - I'm shocked SHOCKED that a team that went from 102 wins to 14 games under .500 at the All-Star Break had its' viewership decline.— Only in Philly...
- I have to buy the MLB package to watch the Phillies, Cost last year($192.00) I WANT to see the roster next year. If they have Brown, Mayberry, Marteines,Nix, or Howard in the line up, they can kiss my money goodbye. Chirlie would do us all a lot of good if he hung it up.— old SC Frank
- Could it be Wheeler? He is hideous. As an out of town fan, we get the MLB.TV package and while I could watch the game, I'd rather listen to L.A. and Franzke.— ahathaway
- I can watch on mute when it means something. PLEASE get rid of wheels or at least cut him back to 3 innings. If your a fan friendly franchise and the fans can`t stand wheels, well.....— Pearchair
- Offseason to-do list:
-Fire Amaro for this lethargic, old, bloated ($170 million team salary) mess
-Get rid of the "hitting guru" Charlie Manuel (kick him upstairs) and bring up Sandberg or someone else as coach
-Trade a veteran to shake up the lineup (Rollins, Howard, etc I dont care, but something needs to change)
-Fire the third base and hitting coach and replace ASAP
-Take out the trash (get rid of Mayberry, Martinez, Wiggington, Rosenberg, Orr, Polanco, etc) and replace most of the bench.
-Trade Halladay if he can get back a nice package. Consider trading Lee only if you get a couple top prospects back.
-Sign a power bat in the outfield
-Replace the TV announcing crew with the radio announcing crew and vice versa.
-Go back to the retro maroon uniforms with the classic "P"— astroqueen0 - Why can't I find PRISM on my Xfinity lineup? I'm itchin' to watch Kalas, Musser, & Whitey again next April. Hopefully my cable gets PRISM in time for the next game.— Dobie Gillis
- Wheels has lifetime security....appartently. Dont know why, but NONE of the writers will address it.— NewMick314
