The World Series scored its first ratings bump in Game 3 — and its first decline in viewership.
Tuesday’s Astros-Phillies World Series Game 3 averaged 11.16 million viewers on FOX (11.37M across all platforms), down 3% from Astros-Braves last year (11.47M) and ahead of only Dodgers-Rays two years ago (8.34M) as the least-watched Game 3 in a decade (2012 Giants-Tigers: 10.47M). It was the first game of the series to post a decline in viewership.
While viewership declined, the household rating — a series-high 6.2 — increased a tick from last year (6.1), making Game 3 the first of the series to post an increase in ratings.
Ratings and viewership have gone in opposite directions for all three games of the World Series, largely a function of the changed schedule. Assuming there are fewer in-home and more out-of-home viewers on Fridays and Saturdays than midweek, one would expect a lower household rating and larger audience for weekend games (Games 1 and 2 this year, Game 3 last year) as compared to their weeknight counterparts (Game 3 this year, Games 1 and 2 last year).
Despite the viewership dip, the World Series is still averaging 11.18 million viewers through three games — up 2% from last year (10.96M).
Just like the first two games, Game 3 posted a disproportionate increase in adults 18-34, its 1.8 rating in the demo up 18% from last year (1.5, pending revision). By comparison, ratings increased 8% in 18-49 (2.6) and 5% in 25-54 (3.25).
Philadelphia led all markets for the Phillies’ win with a series-high 29.1 rating and 56 share, followed by Houston at a distant second with a 21.9 and 47.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.2, Fox Sports PR 11.2)
