World Series television ratings

The highest average rating for an entire World Series is tied between the 1978 Series featuring the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1980 Series featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals. Both Series, each of which went six games, averaged a national rating of 32.8 and a share of 56. However, the 1978 Series had a slightly larger total viewership (44,278,950) than 1980 (42,300,000).

The highest-rated individual game in Series history was Game 7 in 1986, as the New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox at Shea Stadium in New York City. The game had a 38.9 national rating and a 55 share. This broke the record established two nights before, in which 52% of televisions in use in the US were tuned in to see the Mets' famous Game 6 comeback that forced a Game 7.

The lowest-rated World Series game came in 2008, as only 9.836 million people watched Game 3 between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays; a rain delay moved the start of the game to after 10 p.m. on the East Coast with the game not ending until 1:47 a.m. It had an all-time low rating of 6.1, matched later by Game 3 in 2012 between the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers.

The least-watched World Series was in 2012, a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers by the San Francisco Giants that averaged a 7.6 rating and 12 share.

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians saw the highest rating in 25 Years, averaging 40 million viewers and more than 75 million viewers saw all or part of the game.^[1]

Viewership by year

Least and most viewed World Series, 1984 – present

The following shows the World Series with the lowest and highest average viewership. Figures are in millions.

Viewership records for Games 1–7, 1984 – present

The following table shows the viewership records — both highest and lowest — for games one through seven in a World Series. Figures are in millions.

Television ratings by year, 1984 – present

Figures are expressed as ratings/share. Ratings represent the percentage of U.S. households that watched the game on television. Share represents the percentage of television sets in use that were tuned to the game.

See also

• List of Super Bowl TV ratings
• NBA Finals television ratings
• Stanley Cup Finals television ratings

References

Links to related articles
World Series No World Series was held in 1904 because the NL champions refused to participate; no World Series was held in 1994 due to a players' strike. 1900s 1900 · 1901 · 1902 · 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 See also Pre-World Series champions World Series champions Most Valuable Players Starting pitchers Babe Ruth Award Commissioner's Trophy Appearances Streaks Droughts Broadcasters TV ratings ALCS NLCS ALDS NLDS ALWC NLWC 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake Dauvray Cup Temple Cup Chronicle-Telegraph Cup Game 7 World Series ring Book:World Series Major League Baseball on national television Contract history Blackout policy American broadcasting contracts Canadian broadcasting contracts Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 Broadcast partners ABC CBS DuMont Fox NBC Pay television carriers ESPN FS1 TBS USA MLB owned & operated entities The Baseball Network Extra Innings MLB Network General media Game of the Week Monday Night Wednesday Night Thursday Night Sunday Night Local broadcasters Current announcers Historical over-the-air television broadcasters Regional sports networks Comcast SportsNet Fox Sports Networks SNY SportsChannel YES Network Superstations WGN Sports (Chicago Cubs and White Sox) News television series Baseball Tonight Major League Baseball: An Inside Look Race for the Pennant This Week in Baseball MLB Network programs Intentional Talk MLB Tonight Hot Stove Quick Pitch Specialty programming The Baseball Bunch Baseball IQ Baseball's Seasons Home Run Derby Kiner's Korner Yankeeography Reality television series The Club The Franchise Rebroadcasts ESPN Classic Mets Classics Yankees Classics Broadcasters by event World Series (television ratings) ALCS NLCS All-Star Game ALDS NLDS International coverage MLB International Australia ESPN Australia Fox Sports One British Isles BT Sport Canada RDS Sportsnet TSN TVA Sports Latin America ESPN Fox Sports Brazil ESPN Brasil Fox Sports Japan Fuji TV NHK TBS Landmark events Cable television Broadcasting firsts Telecasts technology Miscellaneous Instant replay TV markets Wiping Major League Baseball on ABC Related programs Major League Baseball Game of the Week (1953–1954; 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