Tough college football competition and a move from TBS to Fox Sports 1 conspired to sink overnight ratings for Game 1 of the NLCS.
Game 1 of the Dodgers/Cubs National League Championship Series had a 3.9 overnight rating on FS1 Saturday night, down 28% from Cubs/Mets on TBS last year (5.4) but up 11% from Giants/Cardinals on FS1 in 2014 (3.5). Compared to last year’s LCS on the Fox Sports networks, overnights fell 9% from a 4.3 for Blue Jays/Royals Game 1 on the FOX broadcast network.
The 3.9 trailed all four games of last year’s Cubs/Mets series, a four-game sweep that never dipped lower than 4.8 in the metered markets.
Keep in mind that the Cubs’ win faced significant competition from the Ohio State/Wisconsin college football game on ABC, a top ten matchup that went to overtime (5.6).
Locally, Saturday’s game had a 20.9 rating in Chicago — up 1% from last year on TBS (20.6) and the market’s highest rating ever for a game on FS1. Local numbers in Los Angeles were not immediately available.
TBS has not released data for Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS.
(Sat. numbers via Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10/16)
