A World Series matchup featuring two of the East Coast’s largest media markets led to some of the highest viewership baseball has seen in five years.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
DAYS
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
MLB ALCS (RED SOX-RAYS 7)
TBSC
SUNDAY
13,357,000

2
NFL REGULAR SEASON L (GIANTS/BROWNS)
ESPN
MONDAY
11,422,000

3
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE(S)-10/15/2008
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
9,068,000

4
SR/PRES DEBATE 3 2008(S)-10/15/2008
CNN
WEDNESDAY
8,931,000

5
MLB ALCS (RED SOX-RAYS 6)
TBSC
SATURDAY
8,928,000

6
ANDERSON COOPER 360
CNN
WEDNESDAY
7,795,000

7
SPONGEBOB
NICK
MONDAY
7,666,000

8
ON THE RECORD W/GRETA
FOXNC
WEDNESDAY
7,394,000

9
MLB ALCS (RAYS-RED SOX 5)
TBSC
THURSDAY
7,211,000

10
SPONGEBOB
NICK
MONDAY
5,778,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 13, 2008 – October 19, 2008).

NBC’s post-debate analysis of the final presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama edged past ABC’s post-debate coverage to claim the number one spot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, October 15, 2008.
FOX, which aired live coverage of Game 5 of Major League Baseball’s National League Championship Series — instead of the debate, rounded out the top three.
CBS’s post-debate analysis also made the top ten.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALYS3(S)-10/15/2008
NBC
9,091,000

2
VOTE2008:ANALYSIS-WED(S)-10/15/2008
ABC
8,864,000

3
FOX MLB NLCS GAME 5(S)-10/15/2008
FOX
8,029,000

4
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,613,000

5
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
7,529,000

6
KNIGHT RIDER
NBC
7,470,000

7
CAMPAIGN ‘08-DEBATE ANL-3(S)-10/15/2008
CBS
7,189,000

8
PUSHING DAISIES
ABC
6,108,000

9
FOX MLB NLCS GAME …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” claimed the number one spot on Nielsen’s ranking of the top-rated primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Monday, October 13, 2008.
CBS dominated the rest of Nielsen’s top 10 list, with “Two And Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “Worst Week,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “How I Met Your Mother” claiming five of the nine remaining slots.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
17,765,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,719,000

3
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
13,217,000

4
SAMANTHA WHO?
ABC
11,446,000

5
WORST WEEK
CBS
9,754,000

6
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
9,337,000

7
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
9,249,000

8
HEROES
NBC
8,753,000

9
BOSTON LEGAL
ABC
8,015,000

10
FOX MLB NLCS GAME 4(S)-10/13/2008
FOX
7,705,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 13, 2008).

Overall, ABC won …

Each week, Nielsen Sports’ analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
Angels/Red Sox Match-Up Tops Division Series TV Ratings
The third game of the Los Angeles Angels v. Boston Red Sox drew the largest television audience of the division series: 6.2 million viewers.  The three other games in that contentious series also made the top ten — with average TV audiences of approximately 5.7 million (game four), 5.3 million (game two), and 4.4 million viewers (game one), respectively.
After the jump, view complete national ratings from the division series games, aired …

In the game one matchups for the National League and American League division playoffs, the Chicago Cubs v. Los Angeles Dodgers game drew the largest TV audience: nearly 5.4 million viewers.

Game
Network
Viewers P2+

CUBS- DODGERS
TBSC
5,381,000

RED SOX-ANGELS
TBSC
4,442,000

BREWERS-PHILLIES
TBSC
2,764,000

WHITE SOX-RAYS
TBSC
2,610,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 3, 2008).

This week begins Major League Baseball playoffs in the National League (Philadelphia Phillies vs. Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs) and American League (Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays).
Historically, at least where league championship series are involved, ratings have been significantly higher when teams from major markets, such as Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles, are involved. A breakdown of those matchups will be featured prior to the upcoming NL and AL championship series.
Below are historical ratings since 2000 …