World Series Game 1 Draws Lowest Viewership For Opener Since '14

Fox averaged 12.194 million viewers on Tuesday for the Nationals' 5-4 win over the Astros in Game 1 of the World Series, marking the least-watched opener for the Fall Classic since '14, when Giants-Royals averaged 12.191 million. Tuesday night's audience is down 12% from Red Sox-Dodgers Game 1 last year (13.814 million viewers). Two years ago, Astros-Dodgers Game 1 drew 14.98 million viewers. While down from recent years, Game 1 still delivered Fox a primetime win on Tuesday night among all networks. The game had an average minute audience of 164,175 viewers on Fox Sports streaming outlets. The World Series also had competition from the opening night of the NBA season on TNT. Game 1 peaked at 14.267 million viewers from 10:00-10:15pm ET. Houston drew a 34.1 local rating on Tuesday night, up from a 28.6 two years ago for the Astros' opener. In DC, the game drew a 23.1 rating, which is the best figure for any MLB game in the market since Game 7 of the D-backs-Yankees World Series in '01.