In Philly and Tampa, Viewers Chose Baseball Over Obama

The conclusion of the Phillies v. Rays World Series drew half of all Philadelphia households (51.8%) and almost one-third (32.4%) of all Tampa Bay households.

The game aired on FOX Wednesday night, between 8:30pm and 10:15pm EDT.  

In comparison, just 29% of Philly households and 23.4% of Tampa Bay households watched Barack Obama’s infomercial in the half hour leading up to what proved to be the Phillies-Rays’ final game.

The half-hour political simulcast — the first of its kind, since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, NBC, FOX, UNIVISION, MSNBC, and NY1 between 8pm and 8:30pm EST.

In the top 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, 21.7% of all households watched Obama’s telecast.