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TBS touched all the bases with its coverage of the MLB playoffs, as October baseball helped the Turner network sweep the core demos last week.
Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, TBS averaged 4.3 million total viewers in prime, of which 1.89 million were adults 25-54, 1.89 million were members of the 18-49 demo and 968,000 fell into the 18-34 category.
Through Oct. 12, TBS’ coverage of the American and National League division series averaged 4.3 million viewers, of which nearly half (2.1 million) were viewers 18-49. Deliveries were down 9 percent from the year-ago period, when TBS averaged 4.73 million viewers during its presentation of the four Division Series. Playoff deliveries of the 18-49 demo were flat.
(A year ago, TBS endured three division series sweeps, but the reduced number of contests was offset by the superior DMAs of the representative ball clubs. In 2009, two Los Angeles teams earned postseason berths; moreover, a significant draw was ensured by the presence of the Boston Red Sox, a team with a national following that belies its hometown fans’ parochial covetousness.)
Not surprisingly, the New York Yankees have been the biggest draw on the TBS roster, as a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins averaged 5.69 million viewers. The high-water mark of the division series was notched on day one; the Yanks’ 6-4 victory in Minneapolis averaged 6.91 million total viewers on the night of Oct. 6. For the week, TBS boasted six of the 10 most-watched programs on basic cable.
Thanks to its pro and college football coverage, ESPN took second place for the week, averaging 3.72 million viewers in prime. The sports network finished just behind TBS in the demos, averaging 1.85 million adults 25-54 (a difference of 45,000 viewers) and 1.82 million viewers 18-49, 68,000 shy of the Turner network’s delivery.
As has been the case since the NFL season began, ESPN put up superb numbers with its Monday Night Football telecast. On Oct. 4, the Patriots gutted the Dolphins, 41-14 in an AFC East grudge match that drew just shy of 14 million viewers, 7.37 million of which were members of the core TV demo. The Pats-Fins game now stands as the sixth most-watched program on cable this year.
Through the first five MNF telecasts of the 2010-11 campaign, ESPN is averaging 14.8 million total viewers, down 6 percent from 15.7 million in the year-ago period. That said, last year’s analogous MNF matchup now stands as the most-watched program in cable history. On Oct. 5, 2009, a Packers-Vikings scrap scared up 21.8 million viewers, smashing the record ESPN set the previous year (Eagles-Cowboys, 18.6 million).
College football also has been a boon for ESPN, especially its prime-time slate of SEC meetings. On Oct. 9, LSU beat Florida 33-29, in a sloppy showcase of turnovers, penalties and sheer ineptitude that drew a national TV audience of 5.32 million viewers/2.48 million adults 18-49.
USA Network slipped a notch to third place, averaging 2.72 million viewers. The network took the bronze among both target demos, delivering 1.12 million 25-54s and 1.05 million 18-49s in prime. The biggest draw for USA last week was WWE Raw, which averaged 4.78 million viewers Monday night from 9 p.m. to 11:08 p.m.
Fox News Channel finished fourth among ad-supported cable nets, averaging 2.01 million viewers. The news net delivered 454,000 adults 25-54. History took fifth place, serving up 1.65 million viewers in prime, half of which (827,000) were in the 25-54 demo.
Tops among the advertiser-friendly demo were TBS, which averaged 1.89 million viewers 18-49; ESPN (1.82 million); USA (1.05 million); MTV (830,000); History (750,000); A&E (626,000); FX (623,000); Comedy Central (605,000); TNT (546,000); and Food Network (527,000).
Non-ad-supported Disney Channel closed out the week ranked fourth among all basic-cable networks, averaging 2.62 million total viewers in prime. The Mouse continued to dominate the kiddie demos, averaging 1.09 million viewers 6-11, 1.46 million kids 2-11 and 897,000 ‘tweens 9-14.
