National interest in the underdog Royals continues to fuel the American League Championship Series.
Game 3 of the Orioles/Royals ALCS drew a 3.8 final rating and 6.0 million viewers on TBS Tuesday night, up 23% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Cardinals/Dodgers Game 3 last year (3.1, 4.8M), down 5% and 3%, respectively, from Yankees/Tigers in 2012 (4.0, 6.2M). Last year’s Red Sox/Tigers ALCS Game 3 on FOX drew a 3.7 and 5.6 million in the afternoon.
The Royals’ win earned the largest audience of the 2014 postseason. Kansas City has played in six of the nine most-watched playoff games this year, including three of the top four.
Fueled by the Royals, the American League has been a hot draw during the playoffs. Nine of the ten A.L. games have had increases in viewership, including all three games of the ALCS. The only game to have a decline was Royals/Angels Game 2 in the Division Series, which slipped by just four percent. Compare that to the National League, which has had declines for ten of its 12 games — with the obvious caveat that N.L. broadcasters Fox Sports 1 and MLB Network are in far fewer homes than TBS.
Locally, Game 3 drew a 35.7 rating in Kansas City — the highest on record for an MLB telecast in the market. The previous high was a 33.7 for the Royals’ series-clinching win over the Angels in the Division Series. The game drew a 19.2 rating in Baltimore.
Entering Wednesday’s series finale, the Royals/Orioles ALCS averaged a 3.3 rating and 5.3 million viewers on TBS — up 6% in ratings and 13% in viewership from last year’s NLCS (3.1, 4.7M). Keep in mind this year’s series features much smaller markets than last year’s, which included the #2 market Dodgers.
(Tue. numbers/series avg. from Turner Sports)
