Twins' TV ratings follow same downward slope as on-field product

The Twins suffered their fourth consecutive losing season in 2014, and not just on the field — in your living room, too.

The team's broadcasting partner, Fox Sports North, lost viewers for the fourth consecutive year, its ratings show, and now routinely attracts barely more than 40 percent of the audience it enjoyed five years ago.

"I don't think anyone could be too surprised. When the team wins, more people watch. It's pretty simple," said Kevin Smith, the Twins senior director of corporate communications and broadcasting. "Fox Sports does a great job. They're doing what they can, and beyond, to hold viewers, but it all comes down to wins and losses."

The Twins' average rating for a prime-time game was 3.64, meaning that percentage of TV viewers at a given time were tuned to the ballgame, down 13.9 percent from the 4.23 rating that FSN drew in 2013, according to Nielsen measurements. Roughly 64,000 Twin Cities households tuned in to an average game, which is a 57.9 percent drop from the 152,000 households who were watching in 2010, when the Twins won their most recent division title during their first season at Target Field.

The 2014 Twins featured an improved offense and suffered far fewer blowouts — defined as losses by six or more runs — than in the previous three years. (After surrendering 23, 22 and 21 such blowouts from 2011 to '13, the Twins actually went 15-12 in lopsided games last year.)

But the numbers, like the team's declining attendance at Target Field, likely reflect a growing indifference toward the non-contending team.

"The thing is, it's still a strong market. If you were to guarantee that 3.64 [rating] to a lot of other teams and say, 'Would you take that?' they would say, 'Absolutely,' " Smith said. "Hopefully we'll start to have more success on the field, and we'll see those numbers rise to the top five-seven, where we've been before."

The Twins' ratings slipped from the 11th-best in the major leagues to 13th, according to Forbes magazine, though they would have been 14th had the Dodgers not been ensnarled in a dispute that kept them off most cable systems in Southern California. That's better, on a per capita basis, than playoff teams such as the Angels, Nationals and Athletics, and it gives the team reason to believe its viewership will rebound if the record does.

And while the viewership numbers have dropped, they also reflect the growing value of sports programming in an increasingly fractured media landscape. Even with the decline, Twins games routinely drew bigger audiences than the entertainment programming opposite them.

"I can count on one hand the number of prime-time network shows that out-rated us," Smith said. "It's all relative. We'd like our numbers to be better, but in boxcar numbers, we still had double the audience that most network programs get."

There is no sign yet that the Twins have reached a decision about their next pitching coach, but one finalist said Friday he believes he will hear something soon.

"I don't have anything to tell you yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear something in the next few days," former Indians and Mariners pitching coach Carl Willis said. "They've got a tough decision to make, but either way, I'm flattered to be considered. I really enjoyed interviewing with them, and we'll see what happens."

So far, only hitting coach Tom Brunansky, assistant hitting coach Rudy Hernandez and third base coach Gene Glynn have been named to new manager Paul Molitor's staff, but another former Twins reliever, Eddie Guardado, is expected to be appointed as bullpen coach soon.