Ratings declined for the final game of the World Series, but the numbers were strong nonetheless.
Sunday’s Red Sox-Dodgers World Series Game 5 delivered a 10.0 rating and 17.63 million viewers on FOX, down 5% in ratings and 7% in viewership from Dodgers-Astros last year (10.5, 18.94M) and down 24% and 25% respectively from Indians-Cubs in 2016 (13.1, 23.64M).
Compared to the previous Game 5 clincher, Royals-Mets in 2015, ratings were flat and viewership increased 2% (from 17.21M).
Boston’s win, which peaked at 21.75 million viewers, ranks as the third-most watched Game 5 of the World Series since 2003 (Yankees-Marlins: 19.92M).
It also tied the third-highest Game 5 rating since 2009 (Yankees-Phillies: 10.6).
Including streaming and Spanish-language viewership, Game 5 had 18.45 million viewers — down 6% from last year (19.61M) and down 23% from 2016 (24.12M), but up 5% from 2015 (17.66M).
Head-to-head, Game 5 cruised past the competing Saints-Vikings Sunday Night Football game on NBC (8.3, 14.09M). The World Series has now defeated SNF in three straight years, after losing the head-to-head in five of the previous six.
The margins were much closer in the key demographics. The World Series edged SNF in adults 18-49 (4.6 to 4.5) and 18-34 (3.4 to 3.3), and the events tied in adults 25-54 (5.5).
Ratings in adults 18-49 declined 13% from last year (5.3) and 31% from 2016 (6.7). The 4.6 is the lowest for a Game 5 in the demo since 2014 (3.3), falling below Royals-Mets in ’15 (5.1).
Ratings also declined 19% in adults 18-34 (from 4.2 to 3.4) and 13% in adults 25-54 (from 6.3 to 5.5).
Excluding the NFL and the Olympics, Sunday’s FOX-only audience ranks seventh among all sporting events behind the three College Football Playoff games on ESPN and the first three games of the NBA Finals. Because streaming and Spanish-language figures were not available for the NBA Finals games, it is not clear where the across-all-platforms audience ranks.
Game 5 completed a clean sweep of declines for this year’s World Series. All five games declined from both last year and 2016. Three of the five games declined from 2015.
For the full list of 2018 World Series ratings, and all World Series ratings dating back to 1972, check this page.
[Numbers from Fox Sports PR, Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 10.30]
