By Mike Reynolds — Multichannel News, 10/13/2008 8:30:00 AM
As expected, TBS is making a better connection with its coverage of the American League Championship Series than it did last season with the National League Championship Series.
During the first two games of the Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays series, TBS notched a 3.9 national average, a 4.6 cable average and almost 6.35 million viewers. according to Nielsen Media Research data. That was up 39.4% from last year’s 3.3 cable average and 52.4% from the 4.2 million watchers for the NLCS matchup between Colorado and Arizona, which suffered from late-night starts for the more-populated eastern time zone and what was ultimately a four-game sweep for the Rockies.
The Sox-Rays split the first two games at Tropicana Field, with games three to five slated for Fenway Park, beginning with today’s contest at 4:30 p.m.
On the demo watch, TBS garnered a 77% rise to 1.26 million persons 18 to 34, a 62% jump to 2.85 million adults 18 to 49 and 63% surge to just under 3 million adults 25 to 54, according to Nielsen.
Individually, the first game — scoring a 4.1 national average and 6.69 million watchers — outpaced the second contest, an extra-inning affair that lasted over five hours. The Saturday night game, in which the Rays knotted matters, averaged a 3.8 national rating and 6.09 million watchers.
