World Series draws third-lowest television viewership since 1968

By STEVEN HERBERT

World Series television viewership was the third-lowest on record, essentially unchanged from a year ago but 19.7% more than 2020’s record low, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday.

Fox’s coverage of the Houston Astros’ six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies averaged 11.759 million viewers. The Atlanta Braves’ six-game victory over Houston in 2020 averaged 11.75 million viewers, and the Dodgers‘ six-game victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020 averaged 9.771 million.

All the 2022 World Series games drew the largest audiences of their nights. The only prime-time programs to draw larger audiences since the World Series began Oct.  28 were two “Sunday Night Football” games on NBC and their 10-minute pregame shows.

Because of scheduling, a rainout and Houston’s Series-clinching victory in Game 6 Saturday, none of the World Series games aired opposite an NFL game on broadcast or cable television.

Game 5 Thursday — the most-watched game of the Series and third among prime-time programs airing between Oct. 31 and Sunday, averaging 12.769 million viewers — aired opposite the “Thursday Night Football” game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans, which averaged 7.86 million viewers on the Prime Video streaming service.

Records for World Series viewership are available dating back to 1968.

The World Series has aired on Fox since 2000.

“Sunday Night Football” was the most-watched prime-time program for the ninth time in the nine weeks of the 2022 NFL season. The Kansas City Chiefs’ 20-17 overtime victory over the Tennessee Titans averaged 17.687 million viewers, seventh among the season’s “Sunday Night Football” telecasts.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” was the most-watched non-sports program for the seventh time in the seven-week-old 2022-23 prime-time television season, averaging a season-high 10.676 million viewers, eighth for the week behind “Sunday Night Football,” its 10-minute pre-kickoff show, four World Series games and the 20-minute third segment of NBC’s “Football Night in America.”

The CBS news magazine followed a 34-minute runover of the network’s afternoon NFL coverage into prime time in the Eastern and Central time zones, where the bulk of the nation’s population lives. The runover averaged 24.12 million viewers. It is not considered a separate program but is included in the network’s weekly average.

The CBS comedy “Young Sheldon” was the most-watched entertainment program for the second consecutive week, averaging 6.887 million viewers, 12th for the week and second among non-sports programs.

CBS’ “Fire Country” was the most-watched new series for the third time in the five weeks it has aired, averaging 5.53 million viewers, 20th for the week and 10th among non-sports programs.

The lone television premiere on the five major English-language broadcast networks, the NBC comedy “Lopez vs. Lopez,” averaged 2.663 million viewers, third in its 8-8:30 p.m. Friday time slot, 64th for the week and 42nd among non- sports programs.

The World Series made Fox the most-watched network for the second consecutive week, averaging 8.31 million viewers for its 19 hours of programming.

NBC was second for the second consecutive week after seven consecutive first-place finishes, averaging 5.84 million viewers. CBS was third, averaging 4.88 million, and ABC fourth among the broadcast networks, averaging 2.63 million.

NBC, CBS and ABC all aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.

Fox’s most-watched non-sports program was an edition of the singing competition “The Masked Singer” that aired Sunday and averaged 2.777 million viewers, 59th for the week and 37th among non-sports programs.

NBC’s most-watched non-sports program was “Chicago Med,” 14th for the week and fourth among non-sports programs, averaging 6.58 million viewers.

ABC’s most-watched program was “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” 27th for the week and 16th among non-sports programs, averaging 4.497 million viewers.

The CW averaged 480,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program was the magic competition series “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” which averaged 809,000 viewers, 126th among broadcast programs. Its overall ranking was not available.

The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of two NFL games; three NFL pregame shows; four World Series games; “60 Minutes”; five CBS scripted programs; the two episodes of NBC’s singing competition “The Voice”; NBC’s “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Fire”; and ESPN’s coverage of the Alabama- LSU college football game.

ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” was the most-watched cable program, with the Cleveland Browns’ 32-13 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals averaging 10.011 million viewers, ninth overall.

ESPN finished first among cable networks for the second consecutive week, fifth time in six weeks and eighth in 10 weeks, averaging 3.019 million viewers. Fox News Channel was second, averaging 2.427 million viewers, and Hallmark Channel third for the second consecutive week, averaging 1.194 million.

The cable television top 20 consisted of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” and its 13-minute kickoff show; ESPN’s coverage of Saturday’s Alabama-LSU college football game; 15 Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows (five broadcasts each of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity” and “The Ingraham Angle”); the MSNBC news and opinion program, “The Rachel Maddow Show”; and the Hallmark Channel movie, “A Magical Christmas Village.”

“Enola Holmes 2” was Netflix’s most-watched program, with viewers spending 64.08 million hours watching the sibling mystery film in its first three days of release, according to figures released by the streaming service.

“Manifest” was Netflix’s most-watched television program, with viewers watching the first 10 episodes of the supernatural drama’s fourth season for 57.06 million hours the first three days they were available.

The most-watched Spanish-language program was the Friday episode of the Univision telenovela “Los Ricos También Loran,” which averaged 1.618 million viewers, 71st among broadcast programs. Its overall ranking was not available.

Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 13th consecutive week and 151st time in 153 weeks, averaging 1.16 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 730,000, followed by UniMas (460,000), Estrella TV (90,000) and Azteca America (50,000).

ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched nightly newscast for 152nd time in 153 weeks and 204th time in 206 weeks, averaging 7.842 million viewers. “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 6.598 million.

The “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was third, averaging 4.783 million.

The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and its 10-minute pre-kickoff show; Fox’s coverage of Games 5, 6, 4 and 3 of the World Series; the 20-minute third segment of NBC’s “Football Night in America”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”; and the 25-minute second segment of “Football Night in America.”

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