World Series Ratings Roundup: Game 7 Pays Off in Spades for FOX Across All Platforms

The Giants’ gripping Game 7 World Series victory of the Royals, only the second Game 7 in the Fall Classic since 2002, posted a Series-high 13.7/23 with 23.5 million viewers for Fox, up 69% in rating and 76% in audience compared to Game 6 (8.1, 13.4 million), and up 88% in rating and 91% in audience compared to the average of Games 1-6 (7.3, 12.3 million). Game 7 is +22% in rating and +23% in audience over last year’s Series-clinching Game 6 between the Cardinals and Red Sox (11.3/18 – 19.2 million).

In terms of total audience, Game 7 attracted 52 million viewers who watched all or part of the game, making it the second most-watched baseball game since Game 4 of the 2004 World Series.  It is the most-watched sports event since the Sochi Olympics (58.6 million) and most-watched program since the Academy Awards in March (68.5 million). Initial tune-in was a 9.5 with 16.2 million viewers from 8:00-8:30 PM ET and peaked at a 16.2 with 27.8 million viewers from 11:00-11:29 PM ET as the San Francisco Giants recorded the final out.

Overall, the seven games of the 2014 World Series on FOX averaged an 8.2/14 with 13.8 million viewers, up 8% in rating and 9% in audience compared to 2012, the last time the Giants appeared in the Fall Classic (7.6/12, 12.7 million viewers).

Combined with FOX Deportes (see below), last night’s game averaged 23.9 million viewers. Combined with FOX Deportes, the entire 2014 World Series averaged 14.1 million viewers per telecast, +10% better than 2012 (12.8 million).

…In terms of the two local markets in play, Kansas City posted its highest metered market rating for any MLB game on record – 58.3/77 (Kansas City was not a metered market during the Royals’ last World Series appearance in 1985).  San Francisco’s 38.8/64 was the best MLB rating for the Bay Area since Game 7 of the 2002 World Series…

…In addition to the solid network on the Fox broadcast network, FOX Deportes received a major jolt. FOX Deportes’ telecast of Game 7 was the most-watched MLB game ever in the network’s history with 373,000 total viewers, up 90% from Game 7 in 2011 (196,000). The game peaked from 11:00-11:30 PM ET with 546,000 viewers, breaking the previous record from Game 6, making it the channel’s most-watched half-hour this postseason. Overall during the Series, FOX Deportes averaged 267,000 total viewers, making it the largest World Series audience in Spanish-language television history.

…Not surprisingly, the Game won the night for Fox in the ratings. From 8:06-11:00 PM ET, FOX averaged a 13.3/22 in prime time which projects to be the network’s best performance on a Wednesday night since May 2011. Game 7 is also FOX’s highest-rated prime-time broadcast of the television season, and the network’s best (excluding Super Bowl Sunday) since January 2013 and ranks as the network’s best non-NFL rating since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. The prime-time performance projects to rank as FOX’s best since the Super Bowl in February. FOX is expected to finish in first place in prime time in Households and Adults 18-49

The 25 hours of the 2014 World Series averaged a 3.7 in A18-49, raising FOX’s season-to-date prime-time average in the demo by +20% (2.0 to 2.4) and had as much impact on the prime-time ratings race as an entire season of a top-10 show. The World Series on FOX has provided FOX prime-time victories in Adults 18-49 on six of the seven nights it aired, and ranks sixth as the highest-rated program in prime time broadcast television…

…This year’s World Series was the first to be streamed live in its entirety on Fox Sports Go and the move looks to have paid off, as the MLB Postseason has helped propel FOX Sports GO to nearly two million total downloads. The day of Game 7 marks a new record for authenticated viewership for FOX Sports GO. This new record crushed the prior best day ever for GO (10/22/14, Game 2 of this Series) by 43%…

…As for the games leading up the big Game 7 payoff, Game 6 posted a 8.1/13 household rating/share, with 13.4 million viewers on FOX, the second highest-rated and most-watched of the 2014 World Series to-date, posting an.  The audience jumps to 13.6 million when adding in those watching the Spanish language telecast on FOX Deportes.  The FOX rating and audience for Game 6 mark 11% and 6% increases over Game 5 (7.3, 12.6 million viewers, and 3% and 4% gains over Game 2 (7.9, 12.9 million), which before had been the highest-rated and most-watched of the Series…

…The Series also delivered big numbers north of the border, as Sportsnet garnered its largest audience ever for a World Series broadcast with an average of 1.25 million viewers. Overall, 4.3 million Canadians watched some part of the Game 7 showdown on Sportsnet, with audience levels peaking at 2.1 million viewers in the ninth inning. The 1.25 million average audience marks a 19% increase over the previous most-watched World Series game on Sportsnet, which attracted an average of 1.05 million viewers (Game 7 of the 2011 World Series featuring Texas @ St. Louis).