FOX's American League Championship Series Game 1 Posts 20% Gain

The 2013 American League Championship Series got underway last night with the Detroit Tigers taking the 1-0 nail-biter and no-hitting the hitting-rich Boston Red Sox until there was one out in the ninth inning, and the audience on FOX reflected the drama. The game delivered a 4.2/8 national household rating, with 6.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, up 20% compared to Game 1 of the 2011 ALCS on FOX (3.5/7; 5.8 million viewers) which pit the Tigers against the Texas Rangers. Last night's game tied 2010 as FOX's highest-rated Game 1 of an LCS since Angels-Yankees in 2009 (5.2/10; 8.4 million).

Additional highlights:

- Up 2% over last year's 4.1/6 with 6.8 million viewers) for NLCS Game 1 on FOX (Cardinals -Giants) which aired on a Sunday with NFL lead-in.

- The game posted a household rating of 4.0 with 6.4 million viewers pre-11:00 PM ET and increased 23% to 4.9 with 7.8 million viewers after 11:00 PM ET.

- FOX is projected to win the night among Households and Adults 18-49.

- ALCS Game 1 is projected to deliver FOX its best Saturday night prime time since the NFL playoffs in January.

- Despite competition from a Michigan football game, Detroit led all markets (26.5), +23% from Detroit's rating for 2011 ALCS Game 1 on FOX (21.5/38); Boston followed (21.8/42).

- Viewership steadily grew throughout the night: 8:00-8:15 - 2.4/5; 9:00-9:15 - 3.3/6; 10:00-10:15 - 4.7/9; 11:00-11:15 - 4.7/9; 12:00-12:15 AM ET - 5.5/12

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