It’s hard to believe, but television still subscribes to the ratings sweeps periods of November, February and May to help set its advertising rates for the following season. Local TV stations puts out those infamous promos to make you watch their “special in-depth investigations.” And the networks make sure their more popular shows don’t have repeats during those periods, “Scandal will have five new episodes in a row!”
It’s why you see the networks scheduling awards shows like the Country Music Awards this month, the Oscars and Grammys in February and it’s why the NFL schedules the Super Bowl in February to make it more valuable for their network TV partners.
And with the World Series making a rare in-road into November this year, Fox got a bonus with Games 3, 4 and 5 being played in the first week of this month. With the network seeing higher ratings for the Fall Classic thanks to having the New York market involved, Fox vaulted to the top of the heap early in the ratings period. Not only did Fox see higher ratings for the World Series this year, it also gave the network primetime wins especially for Games 3 and 4 (Game 5 was up against Sunday Night Football) and a comfortable lead over NBC in the all-important 18-49 demographic.
Had the Series gone to six or seven games, Fox could have even extended its lead over the other networks as interest increases over a longer series. But even as Fox celebrates its early advantage over the other networks, it’s expected that NBC will catch up and even surpass Fox as it still has a full slate of Sunday Night Football games. The Peacock won last year’s November sweeps as well as the previous two November’s largely in part to its SNF schedule.
And come February, CBS is expected to win the February sweeps as it carries Super Bowl 50. NBC won last February as it aired Super Bowl XLIX. The network that usually carries the Big Game usually goes on to win that month’s ratings period.
It’s usually sports and big events that carry the sweeps periods and this month is no exception. Fox is happy for the first part of the November sweeps, but it’s likely that it will be NBC’s executives who will be popping the champagne when the month ends.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.