CWS shows TV ratings increase

While the LSU Tigers lost in the College World Series finals for the first time this week, ESPN was a big winner.

The network showed an increase in year over year viewership and the 2017 CWS Finals were the most watched since 2014. The 2017 Finals were the second-most watched CWS Finals ever.

The LSU-Florida series, won by Florida in a two-game sweep, averaged a total live audience of 1.945 million viewers. The viewership was up 72 percent from the 2016 College World Series featuring Coastal Carolina and Arizona. The audience for 2017 showed a 32 percent increase from the 2013 finals.

Tuesday's Game 2 had more than 2 million viewers. The audience peaked in the eighth inning at 2.62 million viewers.

The 16 CWS games averaged a total live audience of 1.12 millions viewers. The viewership is the event’s highest since 2014 and up 56 percent from last year’s tournament.

One reason for ESPN's increased audience was the viewership in New Orleans.

The New Orleans market was the highest-rated market throughout the CWS (19.3 average) and the CWS Finals (8.9 rating). New Orleans had a 20.1 rating for Tuesday's game. The 20.1 rating was the second-highest ever for New Orleans in a CWS game. Game 3 of the 2009 CWS won by LSU over Texas had the only higher rating in New Orleans. It was also a higher rating than every regular season college football game on ESPN in '16 except Ole Miss-LSU

LSU's early-round games were also heavily watched in New Orleans. Four of the five games in the early rounds had better ratings than the early round games in 2009.

Jacksonville, Florida, meanwhile, had a 3.0 rating for the College World Series Finals.

ESPN's streaming of the event also set records. It was the most-streamed College World Series in average minute audience, unique viewers and total minutes streamed. It was also the most streamed College World Series Finals.