GIANTS/CARDINALS NLCS GAME 2 THRILLER SMASHES FOX SPORTS 1 AUDIENCE MARK
Over 5.7 Million Watch Bottom-of-the-Ninth Drama
New York - It was an instant classic. Last night, the St. Louis Cardinals were one out away in the top of the ninth from evening the best-of-seven National League Championship Series at 1-1 when in shocking fashion the San Francisco Giants scored the tying run from second on a wild pitch, stunning the fingers-crossed home crowd. But more drama was to come. Just as it looked like extra innings were inevitable, Cardinals rookie Kolten Wong launched a solo home run into the right field seats in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Redbirds to a stunning 5-4 win, sending the series to San Francisco for Game 3 tomorrow afternoon tied at a game apiece. A game like that deserves to be a record-setter, and for FOX Sports 1, it was.
FOX Sports 1's coverage of NLCS Game 2 last night between the Cardinals and Giants delivered 4,367,000 viewers, making it the highest-rated, most-watched telecast in FOX Sports 1 history, according to Nielsen. It smashed the young network's previous record, set Tuesday, Oct. 7, when Nationals/Giants NLDS Game 4 drew 3.921 million viewers. The audience for NLCS Game 2 peaked from 11:30-11:45 PM ET at 5,716,000 viewers. Additional highlights:
· Currently, FOX Sports 1's top three, and six of its top 10, shows are 2014 MLB postseason games. In order they are: No. 1 - Giants/Cardinals NLCS Game 2, 4.367 million; No. 2 - Nationals/Giants NLDS Game 4, 3.921 million; No. 3 - Dodgers/Cardinals NLDS Game 1, 3.595 million; No. 6 - Dodgers/Cardinals NLDS Game 4, 3.267 million; No. 7 - Giants/Nationals NLDS Game 2, 3.160 million; and No. 10 - Dodgers/Cardinals NLDS Game 3, 2.887 million.
· St. Louis led all markets with a 24.5/35, the best market rating ever in a single DMA for a FOX Sports 1 event. San Francisco followed with a 16.1/30.
· Based on overnight ratings, FOX Sports 1 averaged a 2.31 rating in prime time (8:00-11:00 PM ET), making it No. 2 for the night in ad-supported cable.
· Through two games the NLCS on FOX and FS1 is averaging 4.7 million viewers, flat with the first two games last year (4.7 million).
· FOX Deportes' Spanish-language telecast of Game 2 averaged 198,000 total viewers resulting in the best start to the series in FOX Deportes' history of airing the League Championship. The game peaked in the last half hour with 294,000 total viewers.
· Sunday was FOX Sports GO's best day ever for authenticated streaming, breaking the app's previous best set Oct. 4 during the NLDS. NLCS Game 2 was the key driver of this achievement for GO, recording its second best game of the MLB postseason.
NLCS GAME 1 FAST NATIONALS
· NLCS Game 1 posted a 3.1/6, with 5.0 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, -9% in audience compared to NLCS Game 1 (5.5 million) between the Dodgers and Cardinals that aired on a Friday night. Initial tune-in suffered opposite the long running ALCS Game between the Royals and Orioles.
· The audience spiked to 5.3 million viewers from 8:30-8:45 PM ET once the ALCS game concluded, and peaked at 6.2 million viewers from 10:45-11:00 PM ET.
· Game 1 of the National League Championship Series also set new records for the Spanish-language telecast on FOX Deportes. Game 1 averaged 117,000 total viewers and peaked in the second half hour with 186,000 viewers, making it the most-watched game 1 delivery in NLCS history on the network.
· Just A Bit Outside (JABO), FOXSports.com's primary portal to online baseball coverage, posted its second best Saturday ever.
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