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Written by Maury Brown
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Monday, 20 October 2008 14:28 |
TBS scored a major ratings win with the decisive Game 7 of the
2008 ALCS. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson) |
With the MLB postseason not seeing any decisive games till Sunday, TBS wrapped up its 2008 MLB Postseason coverage with a classic. The seventh and deciding game of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays delivered a 7.9 US HH Rating, making it the most-watched MLB game on all of television for the 2008 regular season and postseason, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The series-clinching game, which propelled the Rays into their first World Series, garnered 13,357,000 total viewers, making it the most-watched game in the history of cable. The game eclipsed the 1998 ESPN Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals game that featured Mark McGwire hitting his 61st homerun (which tied what was then an MLB single-season home run record).
“Record-breaking performances, extraordinary viewership and tremendous growth across all key demos added up to a winning formula for our coverage of the ALCS,” said David Levy, president of Turner Sports. “The Red Sox and Rays treated baseball fans to a classic ALCS and viewers made it a point to tune in to watch this tremendous series. The sports television landscape continues to evolve and what we witnessed during our ALCS coverage is that on any given night cable programming outdelivers programming on broadcast networks."
For the seven-game series, TBS averaged a 4.6 US HH Rating and 7,443,000 Total Viewers. The 2008 ALCS earned 96% more persons 18-34 and 83% more persons 18-49 than the 2007 National League Championship Series (NLCS), which was also carried by TBS. Ratings averages for the 2008 ALCS Series were:
- US HH Rating: 4.6
- Persons 2+: 7,443,000
- Total Households: 5,316,000
- P18-34: 1,483,000
- P18-49: 3,353,000
- P 25-54: 3,543,000
- Boston DMA: the ALCS averaged a 26.1 rating in this market
- Tampa Bay - St. Petersburg DMA: delivered 20.2 rating in this market
Additional Game 7 Highlights:
- Game 7 was the top-rated telecast in the history of TBS.
- Ranks among the top 10 sports most-watched cable telecasts all-time.
- The game was the second most-watched telecast on cable this year.
- Game 7 was also the top-rated regular season and postseason MLB game on all of television this year (the MLB All-Star game was the top overall baseball telecast in 2008).
2008 ALCS versus the 2007 NLCS Series carried by TBS: - US HH Rating: +64%
- Persons 2+: +73%
- Total Households: +66%
- P18-34: +96%
- P18-49: +83%
- P25-54: +86%
Source: TBS
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Television 
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