It was a World Series game few will ever forget, but the numbers just were not there.
Friday’s Red Sox-Dodgers World Series Game 3 earned a 7.9 rating and 13.25 million viewers on FOX, down 11% in ratings and 15% in viewership from Dodgers-Astros last year (8.9, 15.68M) and down 28% and 32% respectively from Indians-Cubs in 2016 (11.0, 19.39M).
The Dodgers’ 18-inning win, which lasted more than seven hours and finished after 3:30 AM ET, was the least-watched World Series Game 3 since Royals-Mets in 2015 (13.21M). It tied the 2015 game as the lowest rated since Royals-Giants in 2014 (7.2).
According to Fox Sports executive Michael Mulvihill, Game 3 averaged 12.28 million viewers before 11 PM ET and then 14.13 million from 11 through 2:10 AM. FOX stopped running national ads after the 13th inning, meaning the final hour of the game was not rated.
All three games of the World Series have declined from last year, with Game 3 posting the steepest decline yet. None of the three games thus far has managed as large an audience as any game of Astros-Dodgers last year or Cubs-Indians in 2016. This year’s largest audience — 13.76 million for Game 1 — fell more than one million viewers short of last year’s smallest audience (14.98 million).
Despite the drop, Friday’s game delivered the third-largest World Series Game 3 audience since 2009 (Yankees-Phillies: 15.40M). That comes with a caveat. From 2007-13, Game 3 aired on a Saturday night, the least-watched night of the week.
Game 3 had a 3.4 rating in adults 18-49, down 13% from last year (3.9) and down 35% from 2016 (5.2). The 3.4 is the lowest Game 3 rating in the demo since 2015 (3.2).
It also had a 2.4 rating in adults 18-34 (-20%) and a 4.2 in adults 25-54 (-9%).
World Series Game 3 Ratings, Viewership, Past Decade
[Numbers from Fox Sports PR/Twitter 10.27, Michael Mulvihill/Twitter 10.27; Programming Insider 10.29]
