Fox earned a 5.9 overnight Nielsen rating for the Giants’ 9-0 win over the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS from 8:00-11:45pm ET, which had competition from the Lions-Bears “MNF” telecast on ESPN (7.3 overnight) and the last of the presidential debates. Fox’ last LCS Game 7 was Red Sox-Indians in ’07, which earned a 13.5 overnight on a Sunday night. The net’s last NLCS Game 7, Cardinals-Mets in ’06, earned a 12.5 overnight on a Thursday. Last night’s game peaked at a 6.9 rating from 8:30-9:00pm, the half-hour before the debate coverage began. With the game already out of hand by the time the debate ended, Fox only got a 6.5 rating during the game’s final 15 minutes. In S.F.-Oakland-San Jose, the game earned a 27.5 rating, while in St. Louis, the game got a 31.8 rating. Despite the competition, Fox drew the best overnight for any MLB postseason game on any net to date. Fox also saw it best Monday night audience since the Daytona 500 was bumped to a Monday in February.
TOUGH COMPETITION: ESPN’s 7.3 overnight for “MNF” last night was up from a 7.0 for the comparable Ravens-Jaguars in Week 7 last year. That game aired against Fox’ Cardinals-Rangers World Series Game 5. “MNF” last night peaked at an 8.9 rating from 10:45-11:00pm. Meanwhile, NBC, ABC and CBS combined for a 22.3 overnight for the last of the presidential debates last night. That debate is expected to be the least-viewed of the three debates (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
BROKEN RECORD: In S.F., Al Saracevic notes Giants fans “have been killing” Fox' Joe Buck “for his perceived anti-Giants bias and pro-Cardinals slant.” Buck “came up calling Cardinal games,” and his broadcast partner Tim McCarver is a “former catcher who spent most of his playing career with the Cardinals.” When “asked about that perception … Buck shrugged resignedly, like a man who'd answered the same question a thousand times.” Buck said, “We get it everywhere we go. It's not unique to San Francisco. It doesn't matter where we are” (
S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/23).
