We have the final Fox Sports World Series ratings. And while it may not have defeated Sunday Night Football and Dancing With the Stars, the World Series can still pull in viewers, an estimated 15 million watched Monday night as the Giants won their first Championship since moving to San Francisco in 1958. According to Fox, it’ll win the coveted 18-49 demographic for Monday, which is the desired age range for advertisers. And Fox says it won the week from October 25-31 thanks to winning three nights when the Series was on.
The press release is below.
WORLD SERIES REMAINS A PRIME TIME FORCEFall Classic Helps FOX Dominate Network Competition15 Million Viewers Watch Giants Take Home First Title in 56 YearsNew York, NY – The Giants claimed the first World Series championship for the city of San Francisco and the first in 56 years for the franchise last night, in a 3-1 victory over the American League Champion Texas Rangers taking the 2010 World Series four games to one.The decisive Game 5 of the Series earned an 8.8/14 (15.0 million viewers) last night on FOX, according to fast-national ratings provided by Nielsen Media Research.The World Series was a prime-time hit with Game 5 posting a 4.2 among Adults 18-49 to claim the night for FOX. FOX projects to win Monday night on Adults 18-49 easily when final national ratings are released.The 2010 World Series averaged an 8.4/14 and 14.3 million viewers over five games. The average audience of 14.3 million is +5% better than 2008’s 13.6 million for the comparable Philles/Rays World Series. Those numbers rank the World Series as the 7th most-watched and 8th highest-rated prime time show last week. That continues a decades-long tradition in which the World Series typically ranks among TV’s top 10 programs. The 2010 Series, compared to last year’s which featured the more nationally popular Yankees, is down 28% in rating (11.7/19) and down 26% in viewership (19.4).Behind the strength of the World Series, FOX easily won the week of October 25 -October 31 in the Adult 18-49 demographic, averaging a 3.7/11 in prime time. ABC and CBS tied for a distant second last week with a 2.6/7. FOX also claimed victory for the week in households (7.1/12) and total viewers (12.0 million) in prime time.The 2010 World Series delivered FOX several of its highest-rated nights in months. Game 1 gave FOX its most-watched Wednesday night since May. Game 2 was FOX’s most-watched Thursday night since last year’s World Series. Game 3 posted the network’s most-watched Saturday night since January 2009. Game 4 was FOX’s most-watched Sunday night since last January’s NFC Championship and Game 5 gave FOX its most-watched Monday night since last year’s World Series.San Francisco topped all markets for this year’s World Series, averaging a 35.3/61 over five games and culminating with a 37.9/65 for last night’s Game 5. Game 5 peaked in San Francisco at an impressive 49.3/71 for the championship-clinching bottom of the ninth inning. The five-game average of 35.3/61 is higher than the 35.1/56 that San Francisco averaged for the Giants in the 2002 World Series, which is notable given that was a seven-game series. Dallas averaged a 30.9/48 for the five games and delivered a 31.3/45 for last night’s Game 5.This year’s five-game series extends the current streak of World Series without a Game 7 to an unprecedented eight years. Prior to the current streak, 37% of all best-of-seven World Series had gone to a Game 7.
That will do it.
