HOUSTON, TX – OCTOBER 21: Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros hits a solo home run against Tommy Kahnle #48 of the New York Yankees during the fifth inning in Game Seven of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on October 21, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
FoxMLBRatingsWarner Bros. DiscoveryBy Ken Fang on

Riding a New York Yankees wave, FS1 topped all cable networks in primetime for the week ending October 22. The American League Championship Series between the Yankees and Houston Astros averaged 3.9 million viewers for the games it aired between October 16 and October 22.

ALCS Game 7 on October 21 averaged 9.9 million viewers for FS1, making it the most-watched program in the network’s history.

TBS, which aired the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers, averaged 2.6 million viewers for the five game series, allowing the network to finish second behind FS1 in last week’s primetime cable ratings.

Making FS1’s victory even better, it was also tops in the key 18-49 demographic in primetime.

The latest

Of the top ten most-watched programs in primetime cable last week, seven were LCS games, either on FS1 or TBS. The non-baseball programs in the top ten were Celtics-Cavs on TNT, Monday Night Football on ESPN, and the season premiere of The Walking Dead on AMC, which finished first.

Here are the top ten most-watched programs on cable in primetime for the week ending October 22:

  1. The Walking Dead (10/22) — AMC (11,4 million viewers)
  2. ALCS Game 7 (10/21) — FS1 (9.9 million viewers)
  3. Monday Night Football: Indianapolis/Tennessee (10/16) — ESPN (8.4 million viewers)
  4. ALCS Game 6 (10/20) — FS1 (8.2 million viewers)
  5. NLCS Game 4 (10/18) — TBS (6.8 million viewers)
  6. NLCS Game 3 (10/17) — TBS (6.2 million viewers)
  7. Celtics-Cavaliers (10/17) — TNT (5.6 million viewers)
  8. ALCS Game 5 (10/18) — FS1 (5.2 million viewers)
  9. NLCS Game 5 (10/19) — TBS (5.2 million viewers)
  10. ALCS Game 3 (10/16) — FS1 (5.1 million viewers)

You can see that baseball dominated cable last week, and ALCS Game 7 even finished ahead of Monday Night Football.

Having big markets in the League Championship Series certainly helped FS1 and TBS, but also having three teams with big brands in the Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees gave viewers reasons to watch.

[Multichannel]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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