For the first of perhaps several times this postseason, the Cubs helped Fox Sports 1 to a viewership record.
Game 4 of the Cubs/Giants National League Division Series had 6.4 million viewers on FS1 Tuesday night, up a fraction of a percent from Dodgers/Mets on TBS last year (6.3M) and up 62% from Giants/Nationals on FS1 in 2014 (3.9M). Ratings were not immediately available. Compared to Cardinals/Cubs Game 4 on TBS last year, which aired in a late afternoon timeslot, viewership increased 3% from 6.2 million.
The Cubs’ series-clinching comeback, which peaked just shy of seven million viewers, ranks as the most-watched program in the history of Fox Sports 1 — including its predecessor Speed Channel. The previous high was 5.9 million for Game 5 of last year’s Astros/Royals A.L. Division Series.
The Cubs/Giants series delivered two of the three largest audiences in FS1 history, with Game 1 ranking third (5.7M). All four games posted an increase in viewership over last year’s comparable windows, each of which pitted the Mets against the Dodgers.
Figures do not include the streaming audience of 116,000 on Fox Sports Go or the Spanish-language audience of 140,000 on Fox Deportes.
In adults 18-49, Tuesday’s game was the third-highest rated program of the night on television with a 2.0 — behind NBC’s The Voice (2.6) and This is Us (2.8).
Earlier in the day, Nationals/Dodgers Game 4 had 2.6 million viewers — down 58% from last year’s previously mentioned Cardinals/Cubs game on TBS and down 21% from Dodgers/Cardinals on FS1 in 2014 (3.3M).
(Tue. numbers from Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 10/12)
