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 While the NLCS will go down as the lowest rated LCS in television history, the ALCS has been quite the opposite, posting sizable increases in viewership from last year’s ALCS between the Athletics and Tigers. The reasons show that, yet again, a large market, storied franchise, and star power draws in fans nationally. No, Tribes fans, we’re not talking the Cleveland Indians, we are of course talking about the Boston Red Sox.
As we head into today’s ALCS Game 6 (8pm ET on FOX. Schilling v. Carmona), here are the ratings for this year’s ALCS (Games One-Four. Game 5 ratings not yet available): Game One (Fri., Oct. 12): 5.7 national household rating and 8.8 million viewers. Represents a 6% and 17% advances over Fox’s lone Saturday 2006 primetime LCS telecast—the third NLCS game between the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, which produced a 4.9 mark and 7.5 million viewers. Cleveland's 13-6 win was the network’s best Saturday LCS primetime contest since 2004, according to Fox officials. The rating, though, was off 16% from 6.8 average for the second game of last year’s ALCS, which aired on a Wednesday night, when TV usage is 11% higher than Saturdays, according to the network. (Mediaweek) Game Two (Sat., Oct. 13): 4.8 household rating and 7.4 million viewers, with the primetime portion (8 p.m. to 10-47 p.m. (ET), notching a 5.0 mark and 7.8 million watchers. That gave Fox its highest-rated, most-watched Friday night since the fifth game of last year’s World Series, between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, which pulled a 9.1 rating and 14.1 million viewers, for the Redbirds’ clinching contest. (Mediaweek) Game Three (Mon., Oct. 15): 6.6/11 fast national Nielsen rating (9.9 million viewers), up 78% and 98%, respectively, over the 3.7/9 and 5.0 million viewers for last year’s A’s-Tigers Game Three, which was played on a Friday afternoon. There was no MLB playoff game in the comparable Monday window last year. (Sports Business Daily) Game Four (Tues., Oct. 16): 12.3 million viewers, and recorded an 8.2 household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research data. That represents 60 percent more viewers and a 58 percent higher household rating than last year’s ALCS Game 4 on Fox between the Oakland A’s and the Detroit Tigers, which was played on a Saturday afternoon. The game and pre-game show also scored a 3.8 rating in the 18-49 demo, highest for a prime time show in the 8-11 p.m. time period. Overall: In total, the ALCS on Fox is averaging 9.5 million viewers and a 6.3 household rating, up 21 percent and 17 percent, respectively, over the comparable number of games in the A’s-Tigers series last year. (Mediaweek)
Maury Brown is the founder and president of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football and The Biz of Basketball (The Biz of Hockey will be launching shortly). He is also a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.and is an available writer for other media outlets. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted here.
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Television 
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