NLCS win’s downside

Fewer viewers tuned in to this year’s Dodgers vs. Cubs series than last year’s.

Viewership for the Dodgers’ five-game victory over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series was 12.4% less than that for their six-game loss to the Cubs a year earlier thanks to a one-sided Game 5 and the absence of a Game 6.

TBS’ coverage of the Dodgers winning their first National League pennant since 1988 averaged 6.23 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen. The 2016 series, which the Cubs won for their first National League pennant since 1945, averaged 7.12 million viewers on Fox Sports 1.

Through four games, viewership for the 2017 series was higher than its 2016 counterpart, averaging 6.48 million viewers to 6.42 million.

However, the Dodgers’ 11-1 championship-clinching Game 5 victory Oct. 19 averaged the smallest audience among either series, 5.25 million viewers.

Chicago’s 5-0 pennantclinching victory in 2016 in Game 6 was the mostwatched game among the two series, averaging 9.79 million viewers.

Coverage of the Houston Astros’ seven-game victory over the New York Yankees in the 2017 American League Championship Series averaged 6.53 million viewers.

The week’s mostwatched cable program was the eighth season premiere of “The Walking Dead,” which averaged 11.44 million viewers, seventh overall and third among entertainment programs behind CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” (13.07 million) and “NCIS” (12.85 million). Here are the combined rankings for national prime-time network and cable television last week (Oct. 16-22), as compiled by Nielsen. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish during its scheduled telecast or on a playback device the same day. Nielsen estimates there are 289 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.