It was a made-for-TV matchup on paper, but Red Sox-Dodgers ended up as one of the lowest rated and least-watched World Series ever.
The five-game Red Sox-Dodgers World Series averaged an 8.3 rating and 14.13 million viewers on FOX, down 22% in ratings and 25% in viewership from Astros-Dodgers last year (10.7, 18.91M) and down 37% and 40% respectively from Cubs-Indians in 2016 (13.1, 23.40M), both of which went seven games.
Comparing just the first five games, viewership declined 14% from last year (16.40M) and 27% from 2016 (19.29M).
Versus the last five-game World Series, Royals-Mets in 2015, ratings fell 5% (from 8.7) and viewership 4% (from 14.70M).
Red Sox-Dodgers ranks as the lowest rated and least-watched World Series since 2014 (Giants-Royals: 8.2, 13.8M). The 8.3 rating is the third-lowest on record for the Fall Classic, ahead of 2014 and the all-time low set in 2012 (Giants-Tigers: 7.6).
The FOX-only audience ranks as the fourth-smallest in World Series history, ahead of 2014, 2012 (12.7M) and 2008 (Phillies-Rays: 13.6M). The series also averaged a streaming audience of 205,000 on Fox Sports GO (+12%) and a Spanish-language audience of 449,000 on Fox Deportes (-6%), adding up to a combined average of about 14.38 million.
Expectations were high entering this year’s World Series. After struggling throughout the first half of this decade, World Series ratings began to bounce back in 2015, hitting double-digits in 2016 and 2017. This year’s pairing of big market, traditional teams seemed likely to build on last year’s impressive numbers — especially as the Red Sox are assumed to be more popular than the Astros. While the series was lopsided, the games were dramatic; none more so than the historic, 18-inning Game 3.
That ratings not only declined from last year, but rank among the lowest on record, is a result few would have anticipated.
For the ninth time in 11 years, the World Series averaged a lower rating and viewership than the NBA Finals, which this year was a four-game sweep (10.0, 17.7M). It also trailed the College Football Playoff, which averaged 26.8 million viewers on ESPN.
The World Series did finish ahead of this year’s NCAA Tournament Final Four, which aired on cable for just the second time (7.7, 14.1M).
Series averages in the key adult demographics were not immediately available.
Ratings for each game of this year’s World Series, and every World Series game dating back to 1972, are available here.
[Numbers from Fox Sports]
