Fox is averaging 11.6 million viewers heading into tonight’s Nationals-Astros Game 6. That is down 18% from last year’s Red Sox-Dodgers World Series, which only went five games. The least-watched World Series remains the Giants’ sweep of the Tigers in ’12, which averaged 12.7 million viewers. Sunday night’s Game 5 on Fox averaged 11.4 million viewers. That figure was down from 17.6 million for the Red Sox-Dodgers clincher last year, and 61% lower than head-to-head competition from Packers-Chiefs on NBC’s “SNF,” which averaged 18.3 million viewers. That is the biggest gap between “SNF” and a World Series telecast on the same night since the NFL decided to go head-to-head with the Fall Classic starting in ’10. This year was the first time since '15 that an "SNF" game topped a World Series Game 5. MLB coming into Sunday night had won primetime each night during Games 1-4, drawing figures well above any sports or non-sports competition (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
LIVE, BABY, LIVE: Monumental Sports & Entertainment Chair & CEO Ted Leonsis yesterday talked about the value of live sports, saying they are “still the greatest way to convene a large, large audience both on a national and local basis." He noted World Series Games 3-5 drew 15-20% of the viewing audience in DC and said, "If you go down the list of the top 100-rated shows, it's still sports programming and live events” ("Closing Bell," CNBC, 10/28).
