One key Series stat: the lowest ratings ever

Nielsen ratings for Sunday night's World Series Game 2 nail-biter improved over Game 1, but the Astros-White Sox series is still on track to be the lowest-rated on record.

Game 2 had a preliminary national Nielsen rating of 11.1 with a 17 share on Fox and was viewed by an average of 17.2 million viewers with an estimated total audience of 41.5 million.

Combined with Game 1, which rated 9.5/17, the series is averaging 10.3/17, down 30 percent from 14.7/25 for the first two games of the Red Sox-Cardinals series in 2004. The all-time low is 11.9/20 for the 2002 Angels-Giants series, which went seven games and averaged 10.7 for the first two.

Sunday's broadcast was up 16.8 percent from Saturday's, which is consistent with the last two years but less than the 26.6 percent bump (9.4 to 11.9) for the first two games in 2002, the last series to feature neither the Yankees or Red Sox.

"The games have been great, and I think our production has matched the quality of the playoff performances," said Ed Goren, president of Fox Sports.

"It is easy to look at the post-season and see that it's down. The fact is that there are teams in every sport that generate ratings. If Tiger Woods is leading a golf tournament, it will do better than if he's not on the leaderboard. (NBA Commissioner) David Stern once said he wanted the Lakers vs. the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

"In the context of prime time television, postseason baseball does very well."

Goren noted that prime time competition is "much more significant" than in past years, including ABC's Sunday night blockbusters of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. He also said Fox lost ratings because both games have lasted just over three hours, down significantly from last year.

Fox trailed in each hour of the broadcast to CBS' Cold Case from 7 to 8 p.m. (11.1 to 9.4), ABC's Desperate Housewives from 8 to 9 p.m. (15.8 to 10.1) and ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 9 to 10 p.m. (12.2 to 10.5).

In Houston, Game 2 rated 41.3/54 on KRIV (Channel 26) to dominate local airwaves, although Desperate Housewives (12.6) and Grey's Anatomy (10.0) still reached double digits on KTRK (Channel 13). The game rated 39.5/55 in Chicago.

david.barron@chron.com