Fox earned a 5.5 overnight Nielsen rating for the Cardinals-Giants NLCS Game 6 last night from 7:45-10:45pm ET, up 6% from a 5.2 for the net's series-clinching Rangers-Tigers ALCS last year, which aired on a Saturday night. Last night's game aired opposite NBC's "Sunday Night Football" telecast, which drew an 11.7 overnight. Cardinals-Giants drew a 36.9 local rating in St. Louis and a 24.6 rating in the S.F.-Oakland-San Jose market. The St. Louis market is also averaging a 37.3 local rating through six games, marking the best figure for an NLCS involving the Cardinals since '96. Through 10 LCS telecasts, TBS and Fox have combined to average a 4.5 overnight rating, up 10% from last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
IN THE ZONE: In Tampa, Tom Jones writes TBS’ Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling and John Smoltz are “really good, as is the studio show featuring Cal Ripken and Dennis Eckersley.” But the net's strike zone graphic in the bottom right corner "for every pitch remains a major distraction.” The graphic “never covered up action, but you couldn't help but look at it after every pitch.” But Jones writes, "Give TBS credit for trying something different” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/22). In Denver, Dusty Saunders writes Brewers play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson was the “unsung hero during much of TBS’ coverage of the division series” (DENVER POST, 10/22). But in N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote TBS’ postseason coverage was “flabbergasting for its senselessness, for its failure to recognize then show what the heck was going on.” At the completion of Tigers-Yankees ALCS Game 4 on Thursday, TBS "chose to spend a total of 3 (three) seconds on the field, watching the Tigers rush to celebrate, before forcing us to board the last train to Dumbtown.” TBS then went to "an overhead shot, taken from a blimp” that was such a “worthless shot it could have been file footage or been taken in the third inning.” Next, the net “cut to a crowd shot, another worthless view given that ... could have been canned, lifted from the 1999 Ohio State-Michigan game.” TBS “briefly returned us to the field to show some of the celebration, but then it was off again to two more worthless blimp shots and four more worthless crowd shots” (N.Y. POST, 10/21).
DAMN YANKEES: REUTERS’ Baker & Richwine note the World Series, which starts Wednesday between the Tigers and the winner of tonight's Cardinals-Giants NLCS Game 7, “will not include one of the top five U.S. TV markets.” From a ratings standpoint, Fox execs were “no doubt cheering for the Yankees, whose nationwide popularity extends beyond" the N.Y. market. Media buyer Starcom Worldwide Senior VP & Dir of Sports Activation Sam Sussman said either pairing with the Tigers "is definitely not the matchup that marketers or the executives at Fox had hoped for." Sussman added any option "with the Yankees not in it ... doesn't paint a pretty picture from a ratings perspective.” A source said that Fox’ ad projections “anticipate the series going to five games so that a longer championship would be a revenue windfall” (REUTERS, 10/22).
