Though comparisons to last year come with several important caveats, Saturday’s resumption of Tigers/Yankees Game 1 was down double-digits in ratings and viewership.
The final seven innings of the Yankees’ Game 1 win over the Tigers earned a 2.7 U.S. rating and 4.200 million viewers on TBS Saturday night, down 13% in ratings and 14% in viewership from the comparable game on the second night of last year’s postseason (ATL/SF G1: 3.1, 4.888M), and down 10% and 5%, respectively, from the comparable game in 2009 (BOS/LAA G1: 3.0, 4.437M).
The 2010 and 2009 games began at 9:30 PM ET; Saturday’s telecast began at 8:30 PM ET.
Keep in mind that the second day of last year’s postseason was Thursday, a much better night for television than Saturday, and also a night when there are fewer nationally televised college football games.
That said, Game 1 trailed the comparable Saturday night game of last year’s Division Series by 10% and 13%, respectively (MIN/NYY G3: 3.0, 4.810M).
Another culprit for the decline may have been competition from other postseason games. Tigers/Yankees Game 1 overlapped with Rays/Rangers Game 2 on TNT (1.4, 2.165M) for over two hours.
Overall, Game 1 ranks as the lowest rated, least-viewed Division Series game to feature the Yankees since Tigers/Yankees Game 2 in 2006 (2.2, 2.890M), a game that was originally slated to air on ESPN in primetime, but was moved to the following afternoon due to rain.
That may not bode particularly well for this year’s Tigers/Yankees Game 2, which was supposed to take place on Saturday night, but was instead pushed to Sunday afternoon.
Game 1 began on Friday night but was suspended in the second inning due to rain. Ratings for the Friday portion of the game were not available.
Locally, Game 1 drew an 11.2 rating in New York, down 15% from last year’s Twins/Yankees Game 1, which aired on a Wednesday night (13.2). In Detroit, the game drew a 15.4 rating.
(This year’s numbers from Turner Sports)
