World Series a Fox win
Even with a lower viewership than 2016, the final two games helped the network.
Viewership for the final two games of the World Series was down 20% from one year ago, but was still enough to give Fox a second consecutive weekly primetime victory.
The Houston Astros’ 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 on Nov. 1 was the most-watched prime-time program between Oct. 30 and Sunday, averaging 28.29 million viewers, according to live-plussame-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
However, viewership was 29.4% less than the 40.05-million average for the Chicago Cubs’ 8-7 10-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 series that gave them their first World Series championship since 1908.
The Dodgers’ 3-1 victory in Game 6 on Oct. 31 that tied the series at three games a piece was second for the week, averaging 22.33 million viewers, 4.6% less than the 23.4 million average for Game 6 of the 2016 series.
The seven-game series averaged 18.73 million viewers, 18% less than the 22.85 million average for the 2016 series, the most-watched series since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox’s four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals for their first World Series championship since 1918 averaged 25.4 million viewers.
The 2017 series was the second most-watched since 2010, averaging 18.73 million viewers.
ABC’s “World News Tonight With David Muir” was the most-watched nightly network newscast for the ninth consecutive week and 21st time in the past 22 weeks, averaging 8.56 million viewers.
The “NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt” was second, averaging 8.08 million viewers. The “CBS Evening News” was third, averaging 6.42 million viewers. It has finished third each week since Sept. 25-29, 2006.
Fox averaged 9.66 million viewers for its 18 hours, 30 minutes of prime-time programming for the week. Its most-watched program outside its World Series coverage was the space adventure “The Orville,” which was 54th among the week’s broadcast and cable programs, averaging 3.83 million viewers.