Fox Says Plenty of Americans Watched The ALCS

Here’s a press release from Fox noting the good ratings it received for the just completed American League Championship Series. I think it’s happy the series went 6 games and into Sunday night.

2009 ALCS DELIVERS BIG ON FOX

ALCS GAME 6 HIGHLIGHTS

Game 6 of the 2009 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES averaged a 9.3/15 (15.5 million viewers) last night on FOX according to fast national ratings issued by Nielsen Media Research. Last night’s 9.3/15 is +37% better than FOX’s last LCS Game 6, a 6.8/13 for Indians-Red Sox in 2007. It’s also FOX’s most-watched LCS game, excluding Game Sevens, in five years, dating to Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS (25.1 mill. for the “bloody sock” game, BOS-NYY). Although complete prime-time averages won’t be available until tomorrow, it’s clear that FOX will easily win the night in prime-time and last night projects to be FOX’s highest-rated Sunday night since Super Bowl XLII in February of 2008.

Last night’s game peaked in the closing moments at a 10.2/22 (11.8 mill.). The post-11 PM ET portion of the game averaged a 9.5 rating, while the pre-11pm portion averaged a 9.3. This year’s earlier LCS start times allowed FOX to hold more of the audience through the final out. Across the five prime-time ALCS games, FOX’s post-11 PM ET rating was +12% higher than the pre-11pm rating (7.5 vs. 6.7). Last year that difference was just +2%.

New York topped all markets for Game 6 with a 26.4/40. Philadelphia was next with a very impressive 20.6/31. Los Angeles posted a series-high 15.5/27. Last night’s schedule pitted the Yankees and the football Giants against each other in New York, and ALCS Game 6 drew a 26.4/40 in New York, while the Cardinals-Giants game on SNF earned a 9.3/14.

2009 ALCS ON FOX HIGHLIGHTS

The complete 2009 ALCS averaged a 6.5/12 (10.3 mill.), a huge +35% improvement over last year’s 4.8/8 for the NLCS on FOX (five games).

Thanks in part to the strength of the ALCS, FOX now ranks No. 1 season-to-date in prime-time among Adults 18-49. This is the first time since 2004 that FOX has topped the season-to-date A18-49 ranking during fourth quarter. The ALCS powered FOX to some of its most-watched nights of prime time in many months. Looking at the five prime-time games, Game 1 gave FOX its best Friday night in ten months, Game 2 the best Saturday night in ten months, Game 4 the best Tuesday night in three months, Game 5 the best Thursday night in seven months, and Game 6 projects as FOX’s best Sunday night in 20 months.

Coming up, one more press release regarding the World Series.