The Cubs and now-departed Red Sox continued to move the needle on Monday.
Game 3 of the Cubs/Giants National League Division Series earned a 2.5 final rating and 4.1 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 Monday night, up a tick in ratings and 3% in viewership from Dodgers/Mets on TBS last year (2.4, 4.0M) and up 32% and 42%, respectively, from Dodgers/Cardinals on FS1 in 2014 (1.9, 2.9M).
Compared to last year’s Cardinals/Cubs Game 3, which aired on TBS and ended several hours earlier, ratings and viewership fell 29% from a 3.5 and 5.8 million.
The Giants’ 13-inning win peaked at nearly 5.0 million from 11:30 PM-12 AM ET, nearly three hours before the telecast concluded at 2:47 AM. According to a Fox Sports press release, viewership stayed above three million through the game’s final out. Figures do not include the 101,000 who watched on Fox Deportes.
Earlier in the evening, Indians/Red Sox had 4.0 million viewers on TBS — down 31% from the aforementioned Cardinals/Cubs game but up 119% from Giants/Nationals on MLB Network in 2014 (1.8M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Cleveland’s series-clinching win overlapped for more than two hours with Nationals/Dodgers Game 3 on MLB Network, which had a 1.0 and 1.5 million. Viewership for that game fell 23% from Blue Jays/Rangers Game 4 on FS1 last year (2.0M).
Shifting to Sunday, Rangers/Blue Jays Game 3 had a 1.3 and 2.1 million viewers on TBS — down a tick in ratings and 11% in viewership from the same matchup on Fox Sports 1 last year (1.4, 2.4M) and down 50% and 51%, respectively, from Angels/Royals on TBS in 2014 (2.6, 4.4M). Toronto’s walk-off clincher aired opposite the presidential debate (66.5M) and Sunday Night Football (16.6M).
Dodgers/Nationals started off the day with a 0.7 and 1.2 million on FS1, the smallest playoff audience on any network since 2013 — when MLB Network had less than one million viewers for both Pirates/Cardinals Game 2 (832K) and A’s/Tigers Game 3 (912K). The game was postponed from Saturday.
(Sun. numbers from Fox Sports, MLB Network PR/Twitter 10/11, Programming Insider 10/11, ShowBuzz Daily 10/11a, 10/11b)
