The second day of MLB Division Series action, with all four series going over the course of Tuesday, failed to generate much more interest than the tepid numbers for Monday’s doubleheader on TBS.
The four game slate across TBS and FS1 averaged 1.692 million viewers, more than the 1.609 million that the Wild Card round averaged, but far fewer than expected overall.
Overall, the six games played in the Division Series around are averaging 1.753 million viewers. However, that weight is being carried by the two primetime Rays-Yankees games – the other three series have yet to see a game top 1.5 million viewers.
Game 2 of the Rays-Yankees series on TBS increased from Game 1 to 2.614 million viewers. Game 2 of the Athletics-Astros series declined to 1.368 million viewers, with the first several innings overrunning with the end of Game 1 of the Braves-Marlins series.
In the National League on FS1, neither series topped 1.5 million viewers. The aforementioned Braves-Marlins series drew a Division Series low 1.300 million viewers for Game 1, while Dodgers-Padres drew 1.486 million viewers.
Here’s your handy dandy chart of the viewership data for the six games played so far.
MLB did have competition on Tuesday night, as it did on Monday night with two NFL games. Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Lakers drew 7.54 million viewers, shockingly low for a Finals game, but easily the most-watched program of the night on broadcast or cable.
The competition won’t end on Tuesday, either. The vice presidential debate will take place on Wednesday evening, and Thursday Night Football is still happening on Thursday.
If you’re someone at MLB, Turner, or Fox, you really need to think about why the viewership has been so poor for the non-Yankees series. Is it because of the teams, or because of the timeslots? If its the former, you really need to do a better job at promoting these teams and talent. If it’s the latter, maybe it’s time to put multiple games in primetime instead of trying to create one long day of baseball with multiple day games.
[Data via ShowBuzz Daily]
