Weekly Cable Ratings: MLB Playoffs Hit Primetime Ratings Home Run for TBS, FS1
Fox News remains in first on place on 24-hour basis
Major League Baseball’s League Championship Series proved to be a major hit for TBS and FS1 as both networks finished at the top of last week’s primetime charts.
TBS averaged 2.9 million viewers for the week of October 16 to October 22 to top all cable networks, followed by FS1, which averaged 2.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers provided by Fox News.
Both networks were bolstered by their respective coverage of baseball's playoffs games. TBS was led by its October 20 coverage of the Philadelphia Phillies-Arizona Diamondbacks National League Championship series, which drew 5.39 million viewers, while FS1’s October 22 Texas Rangers-Houston Astros American League Championship telecast drew 4.76 million viewers.
Also: MLB Hopes Diamondbacks-Phillies Game 7 Will Spark World Series Ratings Rally
Fox News finished third with 2 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 1.8 million viewers and MSNBC with 1.2 million watchers. Hallmark Channel was sixth with 917,000 viewers, followed by HGTV (814,000 viewers), CNN (687,000), INSP (601,000) and TLC (565,000).
Fox News finished first on the total day chart for the fifth straight week, followed by MSNBC (918,000 viewers), TBS (732,000), ESPN (666,000) and CNN (631,000).
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R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.