NLCS: Game 3 Hits Series-High, But Competition Keeps Numbers Low

The National League Championship Series has been far from a ratings magnet thus far, but Wednesday’s Game 3 earned significantly better numbers than the first two games.

The Cardinals’ Game 3 win over the Brewers earned a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.282 million viewers on TBS Wednesday night, down 46% in ratings and 48% in viewership from Game 3 last year’s ALCS on TBS (TEX/NYY: 5.2, 8.214M), and down 7% and 15%, respectively, from Game 3 of the 2009 NLCS on TBS (LAD/PHI: 3.0, 5.035M).

Last year’s game aired on a Monday night; the 2009 game aired on a Sunday night.

Compared to Game 3 of last year’s NLCS on FOX (PHI/SF: 3.3, 5.040M), which aired on a Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday’s game was down 15% in both ratings and viewership.

Brewers/Cardinals Game 3 ranks as the fifth-least viewed League Championship Series game in history. The first three games of this series of the series rank among the five least-viewed LCS games ever.

There are some mitigating factors, however. Wednesday’s game overlapped with Game 4 of the ALCS on FOX from 8-10:30 PM ET, averaging a 2.5 and 3.880 million viewers during that period.

Once the ALCS game ended, the game averaged a 3.5 and 5.329 million from 10:30-11 PM.

In addition, the markets involved in this year’s NLCS are smaller than in previous years. Last year’s League Championship Series featured the #1 (New York), #4 (Philadelphia), #5 markets (Dallas-Ft. Worth) and #6 (Bay Area) markets, and the 2009 LCS included the #1, #2 (Los Angeles) and #4 markets.

St. Louis is the nation’s #21 ranked television market, and Milwaukee is ranked #34.

Locally, Game 3 attracted 34.3% of the 1.254 million St. Louis TV homes, equaling approximately 430,000 households. In Milwaukee, 22.5% of the market’s 907,600 homes watched the game, equaling just over 204,000 households. Combined, the markets contributed about 636,000 homes to the game’s audience, equivalent to a 0.6 U.S. rating in today’s Nielsen universe of 114.6 million homes.

Compare that to last year’s Rangers/Yankees Game 3 on TBS, which attracted 14.5% of the 7.515 million New York TV homes, equaling approximately 1.090 million households, and 22.1% of the 2.595 million TV homes in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, equaling just over 573,000 households. Combined, the markets contributed nearly 1.7 million homes, equaling a 1.4 U.S. rating in last year’s Nielsen universe of 115.9 million homes.

Five Least-Viewed League Championship Series Games

(This year’s numbers from Turner Sports)