Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that Game 7 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) between the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks drew 9.1 million total viewers across TBS, truTV and Max, marking the most-watched MLB Postseason game on the network in eight years. The Diamondbacks defeated the Phillies 4-2 to take the best-of-seven penultimate round and advance to the World Series, where the team will face the Texas Rangers for a chance to hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy. This matchup officially finishes as the seventh most-watched baseball program to ever air on TBS as it concludes the 2023 campaign of games.
The win-or-go-home NLCS showdown finished as the highest-rated league championship series game in the Phoenix market over the last 16 years. In Philadelphia, Game 7 was the highest-rated LCS broadcast in 13 years, and viewership for the series as a whole was up 17% year-over-year across all markets.
An average of 5.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the proceedings, which included stellar performances by Phillies sluggers Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner. Yet the Diamondbacks’ dynamic offense, led by Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Alek Thomas, came through in clutch moments and sent the franchise to its first World Series since 2001.
Audience growth in key demographics drove total viewership, highlighted by a 14% rise in the P18-49 cohort. Furthermore, both the P18-34 and P25-54 demographics were up 13%, respectively, consistent with augmented interest concurrent with rule changes meant to expedite pace of play and boost offensive output.
Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, with its baseball broadcasts completed for the season, is now within its slate of games for the NBA and NHL. The company is offering the B/R Sports Add-On through its Max direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming platform, available to all subscribers pro bono through Feb. 29. After that date, the price rises to $9.99 per month, which includes games in the aforementioned leagues, along with NCAA March Madness for men’s basketball, U.S. Soccer events and more.
