Ratings Roundup: 2018 MLB Postseason Sees Low Numbers in NLDS; NFL Ratings Continue to Rise By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - 10:00 am
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Ratings roundup is a rundown of rating news from the past week and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, the 2018 MLB Postseason is through the Wildcard and Divison Series, NFL overall ratings continue to rise, college football reaches the halfway point, ESPN and RSN's compile final ratings for regular season baseball, NBC Sports Network is on pace to create network history, viewership of all programs on MLB Network increased in 2018, and ESPN reports their September numbers.
2018 MLB Postseason At This Moment
The MLB Postseason is underway with the completion of both Wildcard games and Division Series. TBS's exclusive coverage of the 2018 American League Wild Card presented by Hankook Tire - the Oakland Athletics vs. New York Yankees (8-11:30 p.m. ET) - led the network to win the night across all of cable television, based on overnight delivery. The live game telecast peaked with an average of 7.5 million total viewers from 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET, based on Nielsen Fast Nationals, and delivered significant audience growth across all platforms.
Wednesday night's A.L. Wild Card game telecast garnered an average minute audience of 6.4 million viewers across all platforms, an increase of 51% over the 2016 A.L. Wild Card game on TBS and a 45% gain when compared to last year's N.L. Wild Card game on the network.
Additional highlights include:
Wednesday night's Yankees/Athletics telecast on TBS is up double digits across all key demos, including a 37% increase in People 18-49 and 32% in Men 18-34 over the network's A.L. Wild Card telecast in 2016.
Turner's TV Everywhere platforms generated over nine million total streaming minutes, a 120% increase compared to the 2016 A.L. Wild Card Game on TBS.
The 2018 A.L. Wild Card Game generated over 11 million Twitter impressions on Bleacher Report's MLB handle, a 13% increase over last year's comparable Wild Card.
The Bay Area posted an 8.9 overnight rating, the best on record for an A's game telecast on any network since 2014
According to SportsMediaWatch, Game 1 of the Brewers-Rockies NLDS matchup on Thursday, October 4 earned a 1.6 rating and 2.46 million viewers on FS1, up 24% in viewership from the same window on MLB Network last year (Red Sox-Astros: n/a, 1.99M) and up 23% and 32% respectively from 2016 on TBS (Blue Jays-Rangers: 1.3, 1.86M). Fs1's Game 2 reached a 1.1 rating with 1.77 million viewers. According to Cynopsis Sports, the series-clinching game on Sunday on MLB Network drew an average of two million viewers, to rank as the channel's fourth-best MLB game telecast ever(Cynopsis Sports)
In the other NLDS, Game 1 of Dodgers-Braves drew a 1.3 and 2.1 million on MLB Network - down 43% in ratings and 44% in viewership from last year's aforementioned Yankees-Indians game and down 55% in both measures from 2016 on TBS (Red Sox-Indians: 2.9, 4.67M). The Dodgers win delivered the third-largest Major League Baseball audience ever on MLB Network, trailing last year's Yankees-Indians Game 2 (3.20M) and Game 2 of Giants-Cubs in 2016 (4.61M) (SMW). Game 2 on FS1 had a 1.2 rating and 2.03 million viewers (-31%). Sunday night's Game 3 increased slightly - with a 1.8 rating and 3.02 million viewers on FS1, down 40% in ratings and 43% in viewership from Indians-Yankees in the same window last year (3.0, 5.29M) but up 38% and 42% respectively from 2016 (Rangers-Blue Jays: 1.4, 2.37M). The game that saw the Dodgers return to the NLCS 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) (SMW)
In the American League, Game 1 of Indians-Astros had 1.91 million on TBS, up 17% from last year (Red Sox-Astros: 1.63M) and up 19% from 2016 (Blue Jays-Rangers: 1.61M). Game 2 had a 1.6 (-24%) and 2.50 million (-29%). As for Game 2, the telecast reached a 1.6 (-24%) with 2.50 million spectators (-29%). The defending World Series champions advanced in Game 3 on Monday afternoon in front of a television audience of 1.92 million on TBS, down 18% from Astros-Red Sox Game 4 last year (2.83M) (SMW)
In the final Division Series, Yankees-Red Sox Game 1 earned a 3.35 rating and 5.57 million viewers on TBS, up 59% in viewership from last year (Cubs-Nationals: n/a, 3.50M) and up 158% and 152% respectively from 2016 on FS1 (Dodgers-Nationals: 1.3, 2.21M). The second game of the series on Saturday night had a 3.0 and 5.06 million - up 82% in ratings and 80% in viewership from last year (D'Backs-Dodgers: 1.65, 2.81M) and up 19% and 10% respectively from Giants-Cubs on MLB Network in 2016 (2.5, 4.61M) (SMW). A lopsided Game 3 in favor of Boston 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). Due to the score, it was the first game of the series to decline in comparison to last year's window with a 17% drop. Last night's series-clinching ALDS Game 4 on TBS was the most-viewed LDS Game 4 on the network since 2007, with an average of 7.1 million viewers, and ranked as the top program of the night across all of cable television. The telecast peaked with an average of 8.5 million viewers from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET. Locally, the ALDS Game 4 telecast generated a 23.9 HH rating in Boston, the highest-rated LDS game on any network in the market since 2008.
Week 5 of NFL Action
The Monday Night Football matchup - which featured New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees breaking Peyton Manning's all-time NFL passing yards record in a 43-19
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Ratings Roundup: 2018 MLB Postseason Sees Low Numbers in NLDS; NFL Ratings Continue to Rise By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor 
