Astros-Dodgers Finishes With Fox' Second-Best World Series Viewership Since '09

Fox put a bow on the ’17 MLB season with the second-best World Series viewership since ’09, and third-best since ’04. The seven-game Astros-Dodgers series averaged 18.9 million viewers on Fox, down 19% from Cubs-Indians last year, but well above 14.7 million viewers for the five-game Royals-Mets series two years ago, as well as the 13.8 million viewers for the seven-game Giants-Royals series in ’14. Astros-Dodgers series also skewed younger for Fox, averaging its second-best audience among teens since ’09. Meanwhile, Game 7 on Wednesday night finished with 28.2 million viewers, down from 40.0 million viewers for the extra-innings, weather-delayed Cubs-Indians Game 7 last year, but well above any other clinching World Series game over the last decade, which includes two Game 7s and two Game 6s. Fox Deportes also drew 778,000 viewers for Game 7 on Wednesday, marking the most-viewed, non-soccer sporting event in Spanish-language cable TV history. The seven-game set also was the best Spanish-language cable audience on record for a World Series (476,000 viewers). Fox Sports Go drew an average minute audience of 293,918 viewers for Game 7, marking the second-best MLB game ever on the streaming platform and the fourth-best authenticated event ever. The seven games drew an average minute audience of 183,249, up 4% from Cubs-Indians last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

WORLD SERIES AVERAGE AUDIENCE TREND ON FOX
YEAR	GAMES	VIEWERS (000)	MATCHUP	MEDIAN AGE
'17	7	18,909	Astros-Dodgers	55.0
'16	7	23,388	Cubs-Indians	53.6
'15	5	14,699	Royals-Mets	54.6
'14	7	13,825	Giants-Royals	55.7
'13	6	14,940	Red Sox-Cardinals	54.2
'12	4	12,660	Giants-Tigers	53.6
'11	7	16,645	Cardinals-Rangers	52.6
'10	5	14,268	Giants-Rangers	52.8
'09	6	19,387	Yankees-Phillies	50.1
'08	5	13,635	Phillies-Rays	50.7
'07	4	17,123	Red Sox-Rockies	49.9
'06	5	15,812	Cardinals-Tigers	51.6
'05	4	17,162	White Sox-Astros	49.8
'04	4	25,390	Red Sox-Cardinals	48.4

AGE OLD QUESTIONS: AD AGE's Anthony Crupi noted Game 7 now "stands as the most-watched TV broadcast" of the '17-18 TV season, edging Fox' Sept. 17 Cowboys-Broncos in the NFL national window (26 million viewers). However, that NFL window did "edge the older-skewing" Game 7 among adults 18-49, drawing 11 million adults (8.5 rating in the demo) compared to Game 7's 10.5 million (8.2 rating in the demo). For context, Fox' highest-rated scripted episode this TV season to date was the Sept. 10 preview of "The Orville," which delivered 3.5 million viewers ages 18-49 (2.7 rating in the demo). Meanwhile, Game 7 was the "youngest-skewing World Series broadcast" of the seven games with a median age of 53 years old. The median age for the entire series was 55, "up a smidgen" from 53.8 last year and 54.6 years two years ago (ADAGE.com, 11/2).

BIGGER IN TEXAS: In Houston, David Barron notes almost half of the 2.4 million TV homes in the 20-county Greater Houston area watched Game 7. Houston-based KRIV-Fox drew a 47.1 local rating for Game 7, "just short of the 47.4 rating for Super Bowl LI played at NRG Stadium last February" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/3). In Dallas, Barry Horn notes the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, "historically not particularly interested in World Series games without the Rangers, was tied for No. 8 at 21.8" for Game 7. For the full seven games, the market "averaged a 13.4 rating, 12th among the major markets." Last year, Dallas-Ft. Worth ranked No. 50 for Cubs-Indians at a 10.6 local rating. Sandwiched between Houston and Dallas-Ft. Worth for Game 7 this year were Austin (31.3) at No. 3 and San Antonio (27.3) at No. 4 (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/3).

SOCIAL STUDY: Data from Facebook shows that during the World Series, Brazil was the No. 4 locale for discussion around the seven-game series. That ranking comes despite no Brazilian players competing for either the Dodgers or Astros. The usual suspects of the U.S., Mexico and Canada were the top three locales, respectively. Among the players seeing the most discussion on Facebook during the Fall Classic, Dodgers P Yu Darvish led the way, followed by Astros CF George Springer and P Justin Verlander. Data from social media firm 4C shows there were 2,847,155 daily Facebook and Twitter engagements that the Astros saw throughout World Series.That compares to 3,633,283 engagements for the Dodgers (Karp).

R-E-L-A-X: The HOUSTON CHRONICLE's Barron notes Fox' Joe Buck believes that for the first time, he was "able to be relaxed enough" on air alongside analyst John Smoltz. Calling a game for a national audience "seemed to have the same feel that he remembers as a local announcer for Cardinals telecasts." Buck said, "I feel like I can settle into the game now. It feels like a local game, and I've never felt that. A lot of that has to do with (Smoltz). We play well off each other." Buck seems to "adopt a more relaxed attitude for baseball, which makes sense for a series as fraught with memorable moments as Astros-Dodgers." There was "no need for Buck to create tension by the manner in which he called play-by-play" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 11/3).

BABY, I'M WORTH IT: In L.A., Dylan Hernandez asks whether or not the last month's worth of the Dodgers' four-year-and-counting blackout was "worth it?" It is "worth contemplating, largely because the World Series run wouldn’t have happened without the controversial" $8.35B television contract that has "made regular-season games invisible" to the majority of the L.A. metropolitan area. If that deal with Time Warner Cable -- now Charter -- was a "deal with the devil, the devil at least held up his end of the bargain this October." For the first time since "who-knows-when, this was a baseball town again, courtesy of the Charter billions." But there are "no indications Dodgers-owned SportsNet LA will gain wider distribution any time soon." The agreement with Charter "will be in place for 21 more seasons." Hernandez: "So, again, was this worth it?" (L.A. TIMES, 11/3).