The Yankees’ first Division Series game in five years was not quite as strong as one would expect.
Thursday’s Yankees-Indians ALDS Game 1 had a 2.3 rating and 3.8 million viewers on FS1, down 21% in ratings and 19% in viewership from Red Sox-Indians on TBS last year (2.9, 4.7M) but up 17% and 15% respectively from Astros-Royals on FS1 in 2015 (2.0, 3.3M).
The FS1 broadcast peaked with 4.5 million viewers from 10-10:15 PM ET. Including the Spanish-language audience on Fox Deportes (93K) and the streaming audience on Fox Sports GO (68K), the game had 3.9 million viewers — still trailing last year.
Keep in mind this year’s game faced tougher competition from Thursday Night Football, which had a 9.4 rating and 15.4 million viewers. Last year’s game aired opposite a 49ers-Cardinals telecast that drew a 7.4 and 12.1 million.
The Yankees’ previous LDS Game 1, against the Orioles in 2012, had a 2.4 and 3.9 million on TBS. That game aired on a Sunday night and mostly overlapped with a Reds-Giants game on TNT.
Earlier in the day, Red Sox-Astros Game 1 had 2.0 million viewers on MLB Network — up 7% from Blue Jays-Rangers on TBS last year (1.9M) and up 14% from Rangers-Blue Jays on FS1 in 2015 (1.8M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Houston’s easy win delivered the third-largest audience in MLB Network history, trailing only Giants-Cubs Game 2 in last year’s NLDS (4.6M) and the final of this year’s World Baseball Classic (2.3M).
[Thu. numbers from Programming Insider 10.6]
