The MLB Division Series declined across the board Monday, with even Red Sox-Yankees slipping below last year.
Monday’s Red Sox-Yankees American League Division Series Game 3 earned 4.41 million viewers on TBS, down 2% from Indians-Yankees Game 4 on FS1 last year (4.49M) but up 9% from Indians-Red Sox on TBS in 2016 (4.03M). Ratings were not immediately available.
Boston’s 16-1 rout was the first game of the series to decline from last year’s comparable window. Games 1 and 2 increased 59 and 80 percent respectively. Versus the same game of the Yankees’ ALDS last season, which aired on a Sunday night, viewership fell 17% from 5.29 million. It goes without saying that those games were far less lopsided.
The game was trounced head-to-head by ESPN’s Monday Night Football, which had 10.5 million viewers. MNF — which was also a blowout — won the head-to-head by a larger margin than last year (138 percent compared to 129 percent).
As for the afternoon windows, Game 4 of the Dodgers-Braves NLDS had 2.17 million on FS1 — down 23% from Nationals-Cubs Game 3 on TBS last year (2.83M) but up 42% from Nationals-Dodgers Game 3 on MLB Network in 2016 (1.53M).
Six of the seven NLDS games declined from last year’s comparable windows.
Astros-Indians Game 3 started the day off with 1.92 million on TBS, down 18% from Astros-Red Sox Game 4 last year (2.83M).
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.9]
