Even a rematch of last year’s high-rated NLCS could not save FOX from the holiday doldrums.
Regional Major League Baseball action featuring Cubs/Mets in 55% of markets had a 1.4 final rating and 2.1 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, down 13% in ratings and 23% in viewership from last year (1.6, 2.7M) and flat and down 4%, respectively, from the network’s seventh telecast in 2014 (1.4, 2.2M).
The telecast, which also included Angels/Red Sox in a third of markets, ranks as the least-watched of the season on FOX. The previous low was set the previous week (2.09M to 2.08M). Going back further, it earned the sixth-smallest audience for MLB on primetime broadcast television in at least a dozen years (and likely ever).
Ratings for MLB on FOX had actually been looking up entering last weekend, as the network posted gains for four of its previous five windows. Saturday’s window was just the network’s second of the season to post a decline.
Head-to-head, NASCAR’s Firecracker 400 on NBC more-than-doubled its MLB competition with a 3.4 and 5.7 million.
In other action, Fox Sports 1 scored 378,000 for Yankees/Padres. On the comparable date last year, the network drew 624,000 for Rays/Yankees — but that game aired in an earlier timeslot.
(Sat. numbers via Programming Insider)
