The World Series hit a series-high opposite Thursday Night Football, but it did not come away unscathed.
Thursday’s Astros-Phillies World Series Game 5 averaged a 7.0 rating and 12.77 million viewers on FOX (13.01M across all platforms), down 5% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Astros-Braves last year (7.4, 13.82M), but still the most-watched game of the series. Both this year and last, Game 5 aired directly opposite competing NFL action, but unlike last year’s Sunday night Game 5 — which aired directly after FOX NFL coverage — this year’s game had no NFL lead-in.
The competing Eagles-Texans Thursday Night Football game — pitting the same cities as the World Series — averaged a 3.7 and 7.86 million viewers on Amazon Prime. The undefeated Eagles likely pulled some viewers away from the Phillies as Game 5 drew a 25.9 rating and 50 share in Philadelphia, down from Game 4 (26.6/53). The Texans had no similar impact on the Astros, as Houston posted a series-high 25.5/55 — up sharply from Game 4 (24.0/52).
This year marks the first time since 2017 that a World Series game has beaten the NFL head-to-head, with the caveat that prior matchups pit the Fall Classic against the higher-rated Sunday Night Football package. The World Series will go head-to-head with SNF should the Phillies win Saturday night to force a Sunday night Game 7.
Though the World Series averaged substantially more viewers, the NFL game won the head-to-head in adults 18-34 (2.7 to 2.0) and 18-49 (3.2 to 3.0) and finished in a virtual tie in 25-54 (3.66 to 3.67). Compared to last year’s Game 5 (2.1, 3.1, 4.0, pending revision), ratings declined in all three young adult demos — marking the first decline of the series in 18-34 and 18-49 and the second in 25-54.
Despite the decline for Game 5, the World Series is averaging 11.64 million viewers on FOX — still up 1% from last year (11.53M) and even with 2019.
(Nielsen estimates from Programming Insider 11.4, ShowBuzz Daily 11.4)
