Opposite the NFL national window, Game 1 of the Cardinals/Brewers NLCS earned the worst rating ever for a League Championship Series game.
The Brewers’ Game 1 win over the Cardinals earned a mere 2.1 U.S. rating and 3.350 million viewers on TBS Sunday afternoon, down 58% in ratings and 59% in viewership from Game 1 of last year’s ALCS on TBS (NYY/TEX: 5.0, 8.111M), and down 51% in both measures compared to Game 1 of the 2009 NLCS on TBS (PHI/LAD: 4.3, 6.855M).
Last year’s ALCS Game 1 aired on a Friday night. The 2009 NLCS Game 1 aired on a Thursday night.
Compared to Game 1 of last year’s NLCS on FOX (SF/PHI: 4.2, 7.126M), Sunday’s game was down 50% and 53%, respectively.
Cardinals/Brewers Game 1 ranks as the all-time lowest rated MLB League Championship Series game. The previous low was a 2.2 U.S. rating, set by Rockies/Diamondbacks Game 2 in 2007. That game began at 10 PM ET.
In addition, the game ranks as the second-least viewed LCS game of all time, ahead of only the aforementioned 2007 game (3.323M).
One major reason for the decline was direct competition with the formidable NFL national window. Final ratings for the NFL game were not available, but the national window is typically the most-viewed NFL game of the week.
Not helping matters is the fact that St. Louis and Milwaukee are not among the nation’s twenty largest television markets.
Locally, Game 1 earned a 31.0 rating in Milwaukee and a 22.9 in St. Louis.
Five Least-Viewed MLB LCS Games Ever
|
Date
|
Time
|
Game
|
Series
|
Net
|
U.S. Rating
|
Viewers (000)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., 10/12/07 | 10 PM | COL 3, ARI 2 |
NLCS G2
|
TBS |
2.2
|
3,323
|
| Sun., 10/9/11 | 4 PM | STL 6, MIL 9 |
NLCS G1
|
TBS |
2.1
|
3,350
|
| Mon., 10/15/07 | 10 PM | ARI 4, COL 6 |
NLCS G4
|
TBS |
2.5
|
3,803
|
| Fri., 10/16/09 | 4 PM | PHI 1, LAD 2 |
NLCS G2
|
TBS |
2.9
|
4,429
|
| Mon., 10/13/08 | 4:30 PM | TB 9, BOS 1 |
ALCS G3
|
TBS |
3.0
|
4,499
|
(This year’s numbers from Turner Sports)
