The Yankees advanced to the ALCS in front of a large television crowd Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s Yankees-Indians American League Division Series Game 5 had a 4.4 rating and 7.3 million viewers on Fox Sports 1, up 23% in ratings and 22% in viewership from the last ALDS Game 5, Astros-Royals in 2015 (3.6, 5.9M).
Compared to last year’s lone LDS Game 5, Dodgers-Nationals in the National League, ratings increased 57% and viewership 60% from a 2.8 and 4.5 million.
The Yankees’ win, which peaked with 9.2 million viewers from 11:15-11:30 PM ET, delivered the second-largest LDS TV audience on any network since 2011, trailing Mets-Dodgers Game 5 on TBS in 2015 (7.4M).
It comfortably topped the Yankees’ previous LDS Game 5, a 2012 day game against Baltimore that had a 3.5 and 5.1 million on TBS. The team’s last primetime Game 5, against the Tigers in 2011, had a 6.2 and 9.7 million on TBS.
Including streaming viewership on Fox Sports GO (142K) and the Spanish-language audience on Fox Deportes (207K), the game had 7.6 million viewers. In the key adult demographics, Game 5 was the night’s top program in adults 18-49 (2.2) and adults 18-34 (1.8), topping second-place Empire on FOX (2.0 in A18-49, 1.5 in A18-34).
FS1 averaged 3.8 million viewers for the ALDS, up 3% from last year’s NLDS on the network, which included four Cubs games (3.7M). It was the most-watched LDS on FS1 since it began carrying playoff games three years ago.
Earlier Wednesday, the rescheduled Nationals-Cubs Game 4 had a 2.6 and 4.1 million viewers on TBS — up 28% in viewership from Rangers-Blue Jays Game 5 on FS1 two years ago (3.2M). There was no comparable window lat year. Compared to the Cubs’ previous LDS Game 4s, viewership fell 36% from last year’s primetime game against San Francisco by 36% (6.4M) and 34% from a 2015 day game against St. Louis (6.2M).
[Numbers from Fox Sports, with additional info from Son of the Bronx, ShowBuzz Daily 10.12]
