The least-watched World Series of all-time ended with one of sports’ better ratings since the industry went dark in March.
Tuesday’s Game 6 of the World Series (Rays-Dodgers) averaged a 6.8 rating and 12.70 million viewers on FOX (13.22M including Fox Deportes and streaming), marking the highest rated and most-watched non-NFL sporting event since the wave of cancellations and postponements in March. The previous marks were a 5.3 (NLCS Game 7 and Georgia-Alabama college football) and 10.06 million (Game 5). MLB accounts for seven of the top 11.
The Dodgers’ title-clinching win, which peaked with 14.35 million, ranks as the least-watched World Series clincher on record and the least-watched World Series Game 6. Ratings fell 29% and viewership 23% from last year’s Game 6 (Nationals-Astros: 9.6, 16.55M) and 46% and 45% respectively from the previous one in 2017 (12.6, 22.33M).
The complete six-game Dodgers-Rays series averaged 9.79 million viewers, down 30% from last year’s seven-game Nationals-Astros series (13.91M) and down 31% from the five-game Dodgers-Red Sox series in 2018 (14.13M). This year’s World Series ranks as easily the least-watched ever, down 23% from the previous low of 12.66 million for Giants-Tigers in 2012.
Dodgers-Rays accounts for the five lowest rated and five of the six least-watched World Series games, setting all-time lows for each respective game.
The World Series capped a run of sharp declines and record-lows for championship series. Earlier this fall, NBA Finals viewership fell 49% to an all-time low of 7.49 million and the Stanley Cup Final declined to 61% to a 13-year low of 2.15 million. 2020 marked just the third since 2007 that the World Series averaged more viewers than the NBA Finals, joining 2009 and 2016.
Locally, Game 6 averaged a 27.5 rating and 40 share in Los Angeles — beating every game of the team’s 2018 World Series loss to the Dodgers, but down 11% from their last World Series Game 6 against Houston in 2017 (30.9/52). It topped every game of the Lakers’ trip to the NBA Finals, including the title-clinching Game 6, which aired opposite an NFL game (15.4/33).
The game also averaged a 15.2/29 in Tampa-St. Petersburg, actually lower than the Lightning’s Game 6 against the Stars in the Stanley Cup Final (15.4) — the key difference being that the Rays lost and the Lightning won. The full series averaged a 21.2 in L.A. and a 15.2 in Tampa.
Game 6 averaged a 3.4 rating in adults 18-49, the highest for any non-NFL television program since the Academy Awards. The previous high was a 3.3 for Games 5 and 6 of the NBA Finals. It also averaged a 2.4 in adults 18-34 and a 4.0 in 25-54. Last year’s Game 6 averaged a 4.1 in 18-49, 2.8 in 18-34 and 5.0 in 25-54.
Most-watched (non-NFL) sportscasts, March 11-end of World Series
Compared to same period last year
| # | 2020 | 2019 | ||||
| Date | Event | Vwrs | Date | Event | Vwrs | |
| 1 | 10/27 | World Series Game 6 | 12.70M | 10/30 | World Series Game 7 | 23.22M |
| 2 | 10/25 | World Series Game 5 | 10.06M | 4/8 | NCAAMB Nat’l Champ. | 19.63M |
| 3 | 10/18 | NLCS Game 7 (ATL-LAD) | 9.66M | 6/13 | NBA Finals Game 6 | 18.76M |
| 4 | 10/17 | CFB: UGA-ALA | 9.61M | 6/10 | NBA Finals Game 5 | 18.60M |
| 5 | 10/24 | World Series Game 4 | 9.33M | 7/7 | Women’s World Cup Final | 16.87M |
| 6 | 9/6 | Kentucky Derby | 9.26M | 10/29 | World Series Game 6 | 16.55M |
| 7 | 10/20 | World Series Game 1 | 9.20M | 5/4 | Kentucky Derby | 16.34M |
| 8 | 10/9 | NBA Finals Game 5 | 8.96M | 3/31 | NCAA Elite 8 (MSU-Duke) | 16.20M |
| 9 | 10/21 | World Series Game 2 | 8.95M | 4/6 | NCAA Final 4 (TTU-MSU) | 15.84M |
| 10 | 10/11 | NBA Finals Game 6 | 8.37M | 6/2 | NBA Finals Game 2 | 13.89M |
| 11 | 10/23 | World Series Game 3 | 8.16M | 5/30 | NBA Finals Game 1 | 13.38M |
| 12 | 10/6 | NBA Finals Game 4 | 7.62M | 6/5 | NBA Finals Game 3 | 13.35M |
| 13 | 9/30 | NBA Finals Game 1 | 7.58M | 4/6 | NCAA Final 4 (UVA-AUB) | 12.97M |
| 14 | 10/2 | NBA Finals Game 2 | 6.67M | 3/24 | NCAA Rd. 2 (DUKE-UCF) | 12.88M |
| 15 | 4/19 | “The Last Dance” ep. 1 | 6.34M | 6/7 | NBA Finals Game 4 | 12.79M |
| 16 | 5/17 | NASCAR Cup Series: Darlington | 6.32M | 10/25 | World Series Game 5 | 12.22M |
| 17 | 10/24 | CFB: NEB-OSU | 6.18M | 10/22 | World Series Game 1 | 12.19M |
| 18 | 4/26 | “The Last Dance” ep. 3 | 6.14M | 10/23 | World Series Game 2 | 11.93M |
| 19 | 10/4 | NBA Finals Game 3 | 5.99M | 10/27 | World Series Game 4 | 11.39M |
| 20 | 5/17 | “The Last Dance” ep. 9 | 5.89M | 4/14 | Golf: Masters final rd. | 10.81M |
[Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 10.29, Fox Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 10.28]
