For the first time in this year’s ALCS, Astros-Yankees outpaced the 2017 matchup between the same two teams.
Thursday’s Astros-Yankees MLB ALCS Game 4 averaged a 3.5 rating and 5.86 million viewers on FS1, down 8% in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year on TBS (Red Sox-Astros: 3.8, 6.18M), but up 13% and 24% respectively from the same matchup on FS1 in 2017 (3.1, 4.74M).
Houston’s win was the first game of the series to increase over the teams’ 2017 matchup, though that comes with a caveat. The 2017 Game 4 began at 5 PM ET, versus a primetime start this year.
Compared to last year’s LCS Game 4 on FS1, Brewers-Dodgers, ratings increased 40% (from 2.5) and viewership 43% (from 4.09M).
Game 4 delivered the second-largest audience of the MLB Postseason, behind Game 1 of the series on the FOX broadcast network last Saturday (6.11M). It edged Game 5 of the Nationals-Dodgers Division Series by the slimmest of margins (5.857M to 5.856M).
Including streaming and Spanish-language viewership, it averaged an audience of 6.02 million.
The game averaged a 24.0 rating in Houston, the market’s highest ever on FS1. Ratings increased 21% from Game 4 last year (19.9) and 94% from Game 4 in 2017 (12.4). The 24.0 is Houston’s highest rating of the series, regardless of network, topping Game 1 on FOX (20.6).
Game 4 also scored a 10.9 in New York City, down 16% from Game 4 in ’17 (13.0).
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.18, David Barron/Twitter 10.18, Houston Chronicle 10.17, Programming Insider 10.18]
