The longer it went the more people tuned in.
Fox Sports 1's coverage of the San Francisco Giants' marathon 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals in Game 2 of their National League Diviison Series averaged 3.16 million viewers on Oct 4, according to Nielsen fast nationals data, making it the fifth largest audience in the network's history. It also came one day after the first game of the St. Louis Cardinals-Los Angeles Dodgers scored the 14-month-old service's top tally with 3.6 million watchers.
The contest, which tied a Major League Baseball postseason record with 18 innings, was the longest in the sport's history at 6 hours and 23 minutes, but the audience as it moved deeper into the night at Naitonals Park.
The first nine innings averaged 2.5 million viewers, while innings 10-18 averaged 3.9 million, an increase of 56%. The game peaked at 4.2 million viewers at 11:30 PM-12:00 AM ET.
All told, Game 2 grew 55% from the 2.04 million watchers from the first game of the series, won 3-2 by the Giants.
In San Francisco the game averaged 11.5 household rating, while it posted a 9.5 in Washington, DC, both records for FS1 in each respective market.
According to network officials, FS1 was the No. 1 cable network and No. 2 network overall in primetime households on Saturday, based on Nielsen metered market figures, averaging a 2.8, second only on the night to CBS's 3.2.
