The much-hyped Yankees-Astros ALCS is trending slightly ahead of last year, but behind the same matchup two years ago.
Yankees-Astros is averaging 5.79 million viewers through two games on FOX and FS1, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 1% from last year on TBS (Astros-Red Sox: 5.74M), but down 6% from the same matchup on the same networks in 2017 (6.19M).
Compared to last year’s Dodgers-Brewers NLCS on Fox Sports, viewership is up 20% (vs. 4.67M).
Saturday’s Game 1 averaged a 3.6 rating and 6.11 million viewers on FOX, up 9% in ratings and 5% in viewership from last year on TBS (3.3, 5.82M). Compared to the 2017 Yankees-Astros opener, a Friday night game on FS1, ratings were flat and viewership fell 1% (from 6.16M).
New York’s easy win marked the first primetime LCS game on broadcast television since 2015, when FOX drew a 4.0 and 6.54 million for Royals-Blue Jays Game 1 on a Friday night.
Sunday’s Game 2 drew a 3.2 (+3%) and 5.59 million (-1%) on FS1. Compared to Yankees-Astros in ’17, ratings fell 16% and viewership 10% from a Saturday afternoon window on FOX (3.8, 6.22M).
The opening games increased 32% and 20% respectively from last year’s NLCS on Fox (4.64M, 4.65M). Adding streaming and Spanish-language numbers, they averaged 6.4 and 6.0 million viewers.
In other action, Friday’s Nationals-Cardinals NLCS Game 1 averaged a 2.8 and 4.65 million viewers on TBS — up slightly from Dodgers-Brewers on FS1 last year (2.7, 4.64M), but down 20% and 27% respectively from Cubs-Dodgers on TBS two years ago (3.5, 6.33M).
Game 2 had a 1.9 (-32%) and 3.04 million (-35%) Saturday afternoon, marking the lowest rated and least-watched LCS game since the Blue Jays last appeared in the round three years ago.
Viewership fell 20% and 46% respectively from the comparable ALCS games on TBS last year.
MLB entered the League Championship Series on the heels of a weak opening round. According to Sports Business Daily, the Division Series averaged its smallest audience in at least a decade with 3.04 million viewers across TBS, FS1 and MLB Network.
[Nielsen estimates from Fox Sports, Fox Sports PR 10.13, Sports Business Daily 10.14, ShowBuzz Daily 10.14 10.15]
