The Yankees’ presence has sent ALCS ratings soaring as expected.
Friday’s Yankees-Astros American League Championship Series Game 1 drew 6.2 million viewers on FS1, per Nielsen fast-nationals — up 50% from Blue Jays-Indians on TBS last year (4.1M) but down 6% from Blue Jays-Royals on the FOX broadcast network in 2015 (6.5M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Compared to last year’s LCS Game 1 on FS1, Dodgers-Cubs in the National League, viewership increased 4% from 5.9 million. Last year’s game was the only other LCS opener to air on FS1, with all others either on a broadcast network or TBS.
The Astros’ win, which peaked with 7.2 million viewers from 11-11:15 PM ET, earned the seventh-largest audience in FS1 history — trailing Thursday’s Yankees-Indians Game 5 (7.6M) and five Cubs playoff games last year. Including Spanish-language viewership on Fox Deportes and the streaming audience on Fox Sports GO, it had 6.5 million viewers.
The last time the Yankees made the ALCS, 2012, their series opener against Detroit had 6.8 million on TBS. Two years earlier, their ALCS opener against Texas had 8.1 million, also on TBS.
Locally, Game 1 scored a 13.8 rating in Houston and a 13.4 in New York City. Houston’s rating fell 46% from the Astros’ last LCS opener against St. Louis in 2005 (25.4), a game aired on the FOX broadcast network in a different TV era. In N.Y., ratings fell 7% from a 14.4 in 2012.
Hartford was the top neutral market at a 9.7.
[Sat. numbers from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.14; local numbers from Houston Chronicle 10.14]
