By Joe Reedy, Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Major League Baseball’s postseason goes into its dream World Series matchup with its most-watched League Championship Series in seven years.
According to Nielsen, the two series averaged 5.35 million viewers on Fox, FS1 and TBS, its highest numbers since 2017.
According to MLB, Game 1 of the NLCS on Oct. 13 between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 20.6 million viewers combined in the United States and Japan.
The estimated 12.1 million average in Japan made it the second most-watched MLB postseason game in the nation’s history. The most-viewed was on Oct. 11 when an estimated 12.9 million tuned in for the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the San Diego Padres in the decisive fifth game of the National League Division Series.
Fox and FS1 averaged 5.62 million for the NLCS, which the Dodgers won in six games. That was the network’s most-viewed championship series since 2019.
The ALCS between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on TBS averaged 4.9 million. Game 5, which saw the Yankees advance to its first World Series since 2009 with a 5-2 victory in 10 innings, averaged 5.6 million, a 33% increase over Game 5 of last year’s ALCS between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers.
The overall postseason average going into Friday’s first World Series game between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers is 3.96 million, which is a 5% increase over last year.
The first Fall Classic in 43 years between the Dodgers and Yankees should also be a boost after the least-watched World Series last year. The five-game series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 9.11 million. Game 3 set the record for the least-watched World Series game on record at 8.13 million.
The 2018 series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 14.1 million. Fox and MLB, though, would be thrilled if the numbers could somehow reach the 22.9 million average from 2016, when the Chicago Cubs beat Cleveland in seven games for their first championship since 1908.
“I think we’re expecting at least a five-year high. And I think realistically, maybe we can get to an eight-year high. It would be a nice surprise if we did that,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox’s president of insights and analytics. “When you think about Fox’s history with baseball, at one time we thought it would be amazing if Boston ever broke through and won the World Series. That happened. And you think, well, what if the Cubs someday won the World Series? Then that happened. This is sort of the last thing that we’ve never had that we now have a chance to cover.”
Coke’s quarterly revenue and volumes fall but still beat expectations
Coca-Cola Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter revenue fell as sales volumes flattened or declined around the world.
But the company still beat Wall Street's forecasts and said it expects full-year organic revenue to rise 10%, which is at the high end of its previous guidance.
The Atlanta beverage giant said its revenue fell 1% to $11.9 billion. That beat Wall Street's forecast of $11.6 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Coke hiked prices 10% in the July-September period. The company said that was partly due to hyperinflation in markets like Argentina. Coke has raised prices every quarter since the end of 2020.
But those higher prices are hurting demand. Coke said its unit case volumes fell 1% for the quarter. Demand for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was up 11% but sales of juice, dairy, water, sports drinks and coffee were down.
"There's clearly parts of the consumer landscape where there's pressure on disposable income," Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey said during a conference call with investors.
Quincey said Coke is focused on making drinks more affordable by offering smaller pack sizes and, in some markets, refillable bottles. But prices are also rising due to growing sales of premium beverages like Fairlife milk and Topo Chico sparkling water.
Quincey said Coke will continue to see some inflation in labor, packaging and commodity costs next year, but he also expects smaller price increases and a return to volume growth. Some volume losses in the third quarter were likely temporary; for example, demand was down in India due to monsoons.
"We see us heading towards a more normalized level of pricing going into next year," Quincey said. "We continue to be very choiceful about where we invest... Read More