After a weak start, the American League Division Series finished strong on Fox Sports 1.
Game 5 of the Astros/Royals ALDS drew 5.9 million viewers on FS1 Wednesday night, down 2% from Pirates/Cardinals on the comparable night in 2013, which aired on TBS (6.1M). There was no comparable game last year. Spanish-language coverage on Fox Deportes drew 146,000, bringing the combined total exactly even with 2013 (6.090M).
The Royals’ win, which peaked at 6.7 million from 10:30-10:45 PM ET, ranks as the most-watched program in the history of Fox Sports 1 (including its days as Speed Channel). The previous high was 5.0 million for Game 4 of last year’s Giants/Cardinals NLCS. Four of the five largest audiences on FS1 since it rebranded from Speed have been for MLB playoff games, with a Women’s World Cup match the lone exception.
Wednesday’s game also earned the third-largest audience of this year’s Division Series, trailing only Tuesday’s Cardinals/Cubs (6.2M) and Mets/Dodgers (6.3M) games on TBS.
Earlier in the day, Game 5 of the Rangers/Blue Jays series drew 3.2 million viewers. There were no comparable games last year or in 2013. The Blue Jays’ dramatic win, which peaked at 5.8 million from 7:30-7:45 PM ET, earned the second-largest weekday afternoon audience ever on FS1 — trailing only Game 4 of last year’s Dodgers/Cardinals NLDS (3.3M).
Overall, FS1 averaged 2.8 million viewers for the ALDS — down 10% from the network’s NLDS coverage last year (3.1M). The network was hampered by the presence of Toronto, which does not count toward U.S. television ratings, and early afternoon timeslots. By comparison, TBS averaged 5.5 million for this year’s NLDS entering Thursday’s Mets/Dodgers Game 5.
(Wed. numbers from Fox Sports)
