The Cubs’ lone game of the MLB Postseason delivered strong numbers for ESPN.
Tuesday’s Rockies-Cubs National League Wild Card game earned a 4.2 rating and 6.99 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 62% in ratings and 59% in viewership from last year on TBS (Rockies-D’Backs: 2.6, 4.40M) but down 7% and 9% respectively from 2016 on ESPN (Giants-Mets: 4.5, 7.71M).
Compared to last year’s Wild Card game on ESPN, Twins-Yankees in the American League, ratings were flat and viewership increased 2% from 6.83 million.
The Rockies’ 13-inning win delivered the fourth-largest audience in the history of the Wild Card round (13 telecasts dating back to 2012) and tied the fourth-highest rating. ESPN owns five of the six largest Wild Card audiences, the lone exception being the Cubs’ previous Wild Card appearance — against the Pirates on TBS in 2015 (8.3M).
In the Nielsen fast-nationals, Tuesday’s coverage peaked with 8.4 million viewers from 11-11:30 PM ET. The game did not end until after 1 AM ET.
The traditional ESPN broadcast had a 3.8 and 6.33 million, while ESPN2’s special “Statcast” coverage had a 0.42 and 661,000.
Notably, Tuesday’s game outdrew all-but-one of last year’s National League playoff games, trailing Game 5 of the Cubs-Nationals Division Series on TBS (7.02M). The top game of last year’s Dodgers-Cubs NLCS, Game 4, had 6.79 million.
Rockies-Cubs delivered a combined 2.3 rating in adults 18-49, up 77% from last year (1.3) and up a tick from 2016 (2.2). It had a 1.8 in adults 18-34 (+64%). It ranked second for the night in 18-49 behind NBC’s “This is Us” (2.4) and took top honors in 18-34.
[Numbers from Nielsen via Programming Insider 10.3]
