It may not have been a particularly great game for the Cubs, but that didn’t stop baseball fans from tuning into the first game of the World Series.
Hopes for strong World Series ratings seem validated by Tuesday night’s first showing, despite the Cleveland Indians beating Chicago 6-10. First numbers have the game up more than 20 percent from comparable stats last year, with Fox pulling an overnight 12.6 rating in metered market households. That’s among the best overnight scores for any World Series game over the last five years.
As for the two markets, Cleveland viewers seem much more enthusiastic, outrating Chicago with a wild 46.5 overnight rating to the Windy City’s 34.1.
The first game of the 2015 World Series, between the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets, ranked as the longest Game 1 in World Series history. That game, which famously included a power outage, averaged a 10.5 overnight rating among households and went on to average 14.9 million viewers and a 4.6 rating among adults 18-49.
This looks even better when you consider the Game 1 lows from just two years ago. The 2014 series kicked off with just a 8.0 overnight.
But last year is not the comparison that Fox Sports has in mind. The network is much more hopeful that the rare Cubs-Indians matchup will have the series approaching the ratings highs of 2004 or even 2009. So far, it’s off to a very solid start, though the lopsided score Tuesday night doesn’t bode especially well for those hoping for a seven-game series.
Fast Affiliate ratings paint an equally bright picture for the game. Nielsen has the primetime showing averaging a 5.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 18.7 million viewers prior to time zone adjustments.
Some competition took a hit, though This Is Us remained the night’s top non-sports entry with a reasonably steady 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 on NBC. The Voice, which led into the drama, was own 16 percent to a 2.1 rating in the key demo. Chicago Fire held at 10 p.m., winning the hour with a 1.6 rating.
CBS ranked No. 3 for the night with NCIS (1.7 adults), Bull (1.5 adults) and NCIS: New Orleans (1.3 adults) all seemingly unaffected by facing baseball. On ABC, The Middle and American Housewife pulled steady 1.5 ratings among adults 18-49. Fresh off the Boat (1.2 adults), The Real O’Neals (1.0 adults) and Agents of SHIELD (0.8 adults) rounded out the night.
On the CW, The Flash (1.0 adults) and No Tomorrow (0.3 adults) held.
