There’s usually a silver lining somewhere when it pours, and such is the case with this rain-soaked 2011 American League Championship Series.
ALCS Game 4, the third game in the series to either be delayed or rescheduled due to rain, experienced a two-hour plus rain delay that took a game intended for a late afternoon time slot well into prime time. Benefitting from greater television usage, the taught, extra-innings affair between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers attracted an audience of 8.4 million viewers, a 2011 LCS high equal to that of ALCS Game 3 played Tuesday night entirely in prime time. The Rangers hold a three games to one lead in the best of seven series to determine the American League’s representative in the World Series which begins Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT on FOX.
As for the household rating/share, ALCS Game 4 delivered a 5.2/9 yesterday, almost matching the prime time rating for Game 3 (5.3), and ranks as the second highest-rated LCS game this postseason. ALCS Game 4 is -9% from last year’s NLCS Game 4 on FOX (5.7/10, 9.3 million) which also aired strictly in prime, making for a somewhat skewed comparison. Detroit led all markets with a postseason high 32.8/49, followed by Dallas with a 24.3/41, also a postseason high for the market.
In terms of households, FOX placed second in prime time averaging a 6.1 from 8:00-10:32 PM ET, pacing behind CBS (7.1) while beating ABC (5.7) and NBC (4.3). Among adults 18-49, FOX placed third averaging a 2.9, behind ABC (3.4) and CBS (3.2), while beating NBC (1.6).
After the rain delay that lasted more than two hours, the game opened up with a 2.5/5 and 3.9 million viewers at 6:26 PM ET and grew steadily throughout the telecast peaking at a 6.9/11 with 11.3 million viewers from 9:30-10:00 PM ET. The closing minutes of the game averaged a 6.6/11 with 10.4 million viewers at 10:30 PM ET as the Rangers emerged victorious.
The first four games of the 2011 ALCS, three of which were impacted by inclement weather and began before prime time, are averaging a 4.5/8 household rating/share with 7.2 million viewers, -4% from last year’s NLCS average of a 4.7/9 with 7.7 million viewers for 2010 Giants-Phillies NLCS on FOX, when none of the games experienced a rain delay and three of four games were played primarily in prime.
(source; FOX Sports)
