Ratings Roundup: LCS Falls Flat on Fox, TBS; Fox Puts Up Highest NFL Overnight in Four Years

With the Yankees and other big-ticket teams absent, both MLB League Championship Series suffered massive declines in ratings compared to last year. In the American League, the Rangers-Tigers series averaged a 4.4 rating, down 20% from last year’s NLCS on the network (5.5). In the National League, Cardinals/Brewers averaged a mere 2.9 on TBS, down 43% from last year’s ALCS on the network (5.1), and the second-lowest rated LCS ever. Also consider that even the 2010 LCS series were shadows of their former selves, as the 2004 Red Sox-Yankees ALCS averaged a whopping 11.7 rating on FOX, up from a similarly massive 10.7 for the same matchup a year earlier. Click here for a game-by-game ratings breakdown of the past 10 LCS series…

…With Turner Sports’ postseason is in the books and the numbers are grim. TBS and TNT averaged a 2.8 U.S. rating and 4.299 million viewers for coverage of the MLB postseason, down 22% in ratings and 24% in viewership from last year (3.6, 5.627M), and down 15% and 17%, respectively, from 2009 (3.3, 5.146M). A punchless (but high-offense) matchup in the NLCS looks to be the culprit, as the Cardinals’ six-game win averaged a 2.9 U.S. rating and 4.613 million viewers, down 43% and 44%, respectively, from last year’s ALCS on TBS. The weather and MLB schedule were no friend to Turner as multiple games were delayed due to rain and several other either overlapped or went up directly against college and NLF football…

Fox Leads NFL Coverage
Fox’s Week 6 NFL national window featuring the Cowboys and Patriots put up a monumental overnight rating, earning a 19.1 overnight on FOX Sunday afternoon. That is the highest for an NFL regular season telecast since the Week 9 national window in November 2007 (NE/IND: 22.5, CBS). Sunday’s telecast tied the Fox’s highest regular season overnight since 2002 and was up 10% from Week 6 last year (DAL/MIN: 17.4). Sunday’s national window drew a higher overnight than every college football game since 2007 (UF/OSU: 19.1, FOX), every Major League Baseball game since 2004 (BOS/STL G4: 19.7), and every NBA game since 1998 (CHI/UTA G6: 22.9)…

…In other NFL ratings news, Sunday Night Football is averaging 22.2 million through the first six weeks of the season, the most in the six-year history of the NBC package. The Bears blowout victory over the Vikings drew 16.6 million viewers, 13% lower than last year’s Week 6 game, which drew 19.1 million viewers. Nonetheless SNF was the most-watched program on Sunday night for the sixth straight week…

…CBS’s Week 6 NFL singleheader, including Bills/Giants, earned a 9.9 overnight rating on CBS Sunday afternoon — down 31% from last year (BAL/NE*: 14.3) and the lowest overnight of the season for the NFL singleheader window (six telecasts)…

…Monday Night Football’s Dolphins-Jets matchup earned a 9.2 overnight rating on ESPN — up 28% from Week 6 last year (JAX/HOU: 7.2). This marks the first time all year that ESPN has had an increase in overnight ratings for Monday Night Football…

College Football a Mixed Bag
Last weekend’s college football overnights were led by ABC’s regional action featuring No. 6 Oklahoma State-No. 22 Texas with a 4.1 overnight rating, up 14% from last year (TEX/NEB: 3.6)…

…Meanwhile, CBS drew a 2.8 overnight for No. 1 LSU-Tennessee, up a tick from last year (ARK/AUB: 2.7) but down 42% from 2009 (ARK/UF: 4.8)…

…ESPN scored a strong 3.6 overnight for No. 11 Michigan-No. 23 Michigan State Saturday afternoon, topping the network’s weekend college football slate. Reverse mirror coverage of ABC’s window later in the afternoon scored a 2.6 overnight, and No. 18 Arizona State-No. 9 Oregon earned a 2.7…

…The Final numbers for the preceding week on October 8, saw Notre Dame put up an all-time low on NBC, as its blowout victory over Air Force, earned a paltry 1.1 and 1.587 million viewers, down 39% in ratings and 40% in viewership from NBC’s third Notre Dame telecast last year (STAN/ND: 1.8, 2.641M). The previous low was a 1.2 for Duke-Notre Dame in Nov. 2007…

…ABC’s top game in Week 6 between #3 Oklahoma and #11 Texas earned a 4.3 final rating and 6.533 million viewers, down 25% in ratings and viewership from 2009, the last time the teams played in the Noon ET window (OU/TEX: 5.7, 8.713M). The Ohio State – No. 14 Nebraska Saturday Night Football game drew a 3.6 and 5.639 million viewers, up 16% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year (FSU/MIA: 3.1, 5.053M).

…CBS struggled mightily in Week 6 as the No. 17 Florida-No. 1 LSU game drew a 3.2 and 4.912 million viewers, down 33% in ratings and 36% in viewership from last year (ALA/SC: 4.8, 7.662M).