TV ratings show Fever firestorm more than mirage

It appears those full-house crowds watching the Indiana Fever games during their WNBA finals run were no mirage.

It’s true, many of those tickets were sold cheap, but central Indiana truly did catch the Fever. Just to get 18,165
to show up for two consecutive games says something.

But I figured the TV ratings would be even more telling.
What would men and women young and old and children of all ages across central Indiana choose to watch on the tube when they
had at least 120 station to pick from. Throw in Netflix, Tivo, the Wii and who knows what else, and you have immense competition
for peoples’ time and attention.

The Fever scored very nicely.

The ratings, compiled by New
York-based Nielsen Media Research, show the WNBA finals ratings outdid several Indy Racing League events. No, they didn’t
approach ratings for an Indianapolis Colts game, but still, they show promise.

The Phoenix Mercury won the series
three games to two. But the Fever won the battle of the fans, attracting 50 percent more hometown TV viewers than Phoenix.
 
Here’s the breakdown:

Game 1: National rating .4 (422,000 TV households); Indianapolis 2.9
(32,000 TV households); Phoenix 1.8 (34,000 TV households)

Game 2: National .3 (398,000); Indianapolis 3.5 (39,000);
Phoenix 1.6 (31,000)

Game 3: National .3 (332,000); Indianapolis 2.1 (24,000); Phoenix .9 (16,000)

Game
4: National .5 (541,000); Indianapolis 6.4 (71,000); Phoenix 1.0 (18,000)

Game 5: National .4 (475,000); Indianapolis
5.2 (58,000); Phoenix 2.7 (50,000)

Series average: National .4 (434,000); Indianapolis 4.0 (45,000); Phoenix 1.6
(30,000)