Freed from football competition, the big market National League Championship Series scored one of the biggest baseball audiences in cable history.
Game 3 of the Mets/Cubs NLCS drew a 5.8 rating and 9.2 million viewers on TBS Tuesday night, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 53% in ratings and viewership from Royals/Orioles on a Tuesday night last year (3.8, 6.0M) and up 87% and 91%, respectively, from Cardinals/Dodgers on a Monday night in 2013 (3.1, 4.8M).
Compared to Game 3 of Giants/Cardinals on Fox Sports 1 last year, which aired on a Tuesday afternoon, ratings and viewership soared by 205% and 232%, respectively, from a 1.9 and 2.8 million.
Tuesday’s game, which peaked with 10.7 million viewers from 10:15-10:30 PM ET, ranks as the highest rated and most-watched MLB telecast outside of the World Series and All-Star Game in four years — since Game 5 of the 2011 Tigers/Yankees ALDS on TBS (6.2, 9.7M). It also ranks as the top League Championship Series telecast since Giants/Phillies Game 6 on FOX in 2010 (6.7, 11.6M).
Overall, the game scored the seventh-largest MLB audience in cable TV history, with TBS having aired eleven of the top twelve.
For the night, Mets/Cubs tied NBC’s The Voice as the top program on television among adults 18-49 (2.7). FOX, which has largely abandoned airing baseball in primetime, finished well behind the game in ratings (5.8 to 1.8), viewership (9.2M to 2.8M) and the demo (2.7 to 1.0) with its line-up of Grandfathered, The Grinder and Scream Queens.
The NLCS has now averaged 7.9 million viewers on TBS, up 48% from Royals/Orioles last year (5.3M), up 67% from Cardinals/Dodgers in 2013 (4.7M), and highest average ever for an LCS on TBS through three games. Turner Sports did not disclose the average rating. The full MLB Postseason has averaged a 3.8 and 6.1 million, up 41% in ratings and 44% in viewership from last year, and the highest marks since TBS began airing playoff games in 2007.
(Tue. numbers from Turner Sports; additional info from TV Media Insights)
