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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - Viewership for the first five games of the World Series was the second-lowest on record, but 23% higher than last year's record low, with all but one game drawing the largest audiences of their nights, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen today
Fox's coverage of the five games between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros averaged 11.3 million viewers. The first five games of the 2020 Series between the Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays averaged 9.184 million viewers.
The only prime-time programming to be watched by more than any of the five Series games were three NFL games; two NFL pregame shows; Fox's 20-minute NFL postgame show, ``The OT''; and the 12-minute World Series Game 5 pregame show.
Houston's 9-5 victory Sunday was the most-watched Series game, averaging 13.644 million viewers opposite NBC's ``Sunday Night Football'' to finish third among prime-time programs airing between Nov. 25 and Sunday behind Fox's ``Thursday Night Football'' and ``Sunday Night Football.''
The audience was the largest for a World Series game since Game 7 of the Series between the Washington Nationals and the Astros that averaged 23.217 million viewers.
Official viewership for nearly all forms of programming has decreased because of increased viewing of streaming programming.
Records are available dating back to 1968.
The World Series has aired on Fox each year since 2000.
Fox's ``Thursday Night Football'' ended the six-week streak of NBC's ``Sunday Night Football'' being the week's most-watched program, with the Green Bay Packers' 24-21 victory over the previously undefeated Arizona Cardinals averaging 20.264 million viewers.
The audience was the third-largest audience in the four seasons Fox has aired the package, behind the Nov. 29, 2018, game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints that averaged 21.395 million viewers and the 2020 Christmas afternoon game between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings that averaged 20.391 million viewers.
The combination of five World Series games and ``Thursday Night Football'' gave Fox the largest prime-time audience since the week of July 26- Aug. 1, the first full week of NBC's coverage of the Tokyo Olympics.
Fox averaged 11.93 million viewers as it devoted all but two of its 21 hours of prime-time programming to either World Series or NFL programming.
The average included the 40-minute runover of its afternoon NFL coverage Sunday that averaged 23.255 million viewers. The runover is not considered a separate program.
NBC was second for the week, averaging 5.43 million, followed by CBS, which averaged 3.94 million and ABC, which averaged 3.54 million. The CW averaged 490,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming.
NBC, CBS and ABC each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
CBS' ``Young Sheldon'' was the week's most-watched non-sports program, the first comedy to achieve that feat in the six-week-old 2021-22 prime- time television season, averaging 7.231 million viewers, 14th overall and first among CBS programming.
CBS also had the most-watched new series, the comedy ``Ghosts,'' which averaged 5.764 million viewers, 22nd for the week and eighth among non- sports programs.
The NBC crime drama ``Chicago P.D.'' was the most-watched program beginning at 10 p.m. for the second time in three weeks, averaging 5.621 million viewers, 23rd overall and ninth among non-sports programs.
``Sunday Night Football'' was second for the week and first among NBC programming, averaging 15.68 million viewers for Dallas' 20-16 victory over Minnesota. NBC's most-watched non-sports program was the Monday edition of ``The Voice,'' 17th for the week and third among non-sports programs, averaging 6.918 million viewers.
ABC's most-watched program was ``Saturday Night Football,'' 16th for the week, with Ohio State's 33-24 victory over Penn State averaging 7.051 million. ABC's most-watched non-sports program was ``Dancing with the Stars,'' 29th for the week and 14th among non-sports programs, averaging 4.844 million viewers.
The CW's most-watched program was the second season premiere of the crime drama ``Walker'' which averaged 954,000 viewers, 115th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
The 20-most watched prime-time programs consisted of the five World Series games and the Game 5 pregame show; three NFL games; three NFL pregame shows; Fox's 20-minute NFL postgame show, ``The OT''; ABC's ``Saturday Night Football''; four NBC entertainment programs; and CBS' ``Young Sheldon'' and ``60 Minutes.''
``Monday Night Football'' was the most-watched cable program for the seventh time in seven 2021 regular-season broadcasts, with New Orleans' 13-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks averaging 11.191 million viewers, eighth overall.
Fox News Channel averaged 2.208 million viewers to be the most-watched cable network after back-to-back third-place finishes that followed three consecutive second-place finishes. ESPN averaged 2.17 million viewers to finish second for the third consecutive week after three consecutive first-place finishes.
Hallmark Channel rose two spots to third with the second week of its 2021 ``Countdown to Christmas'' movies, averaging 1.281 million viewers, 15.4% higher than its 1.11 million average the previous week.
CNN finished 12th after back-to-back ninth-place finishes, with viewership dropping 19.3% from 725,000 to 585,000. MSNBC finished fourth for the fourth consecutive week after three consecutive third-place finishes, averaging 1.109 million viewers, followed by HGTV (857,000) TLC (779,000), Discovery (698,000), TBS (649,000), Food Network (619,000), USA Network (615,000) and Lifetime (608,000).
The top 20 cable programs consisted of ``Monday Night Football'' and its 13-minute pregame show; 13 Fox News Channel political talk shows -- five broadcasts of ``Tucker Carlson Tonight,'' five of ``Hannity'' and three of ``The Ingraham Angle''; two broadcasts of the MSNBC news and opinion program ``The Rachel Maddow Show''; two Hallmark Channel ``Countdown to Christmas'' movies; and ESPN's coverage of Saturday's Auburn-Mississippi college football game.
The most-watched prime-time Spanish-language program was the Monday episode of the Univision telenovela ``La Desalmada,'' which averaged 1.786 million viewers, 67th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 100th consecutive week and 102nd time in 103 weeks, averaging 1.34 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 930,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (500,000), Estrella TV (120,000) and Azteca America (30,000).
ABC's ``World News Tonight with David Muir'' was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 100th consecutive week, the 151st time in 152 weeks and the 203rd time in 205 weeks, averaging 8.116 million viewers.
``NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' was second, averaging 6.985 million viewers, followed by the ``CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell,'' which averaged 5.23 million viewers.
The week's 10 most-watched prime-time programs were Fox's ``Thursday Night Football; NBC's ``Sunday Night Football''; Fox's coverage of Game 5 of the World Series and its 20-minute NFL pregame show, ``The OT''; the 12-minute World Series Game 5 pregame show; NBC's 10-minute ``Sunday Night Football'' pre-kickoff show; Game 3 of the World Series; ESPN's ``Monday Night Football''; and Games 1 and 4 of the World Series.