Major League Baseball’s big game lost in the TV ratings game to a midseason football game, as ratings for Game 5 of the World Series cratered.
MLB’s fifth game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays lost in viewership to the NFL’s Sunday Night Football, according to Show Buzz Daily.
Game 5 of the World Series on Fox peaked with only an average of just over 8.5 million people tuning in, SportsNaut reported.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Night Football game between the Cardinals and Seahawks on NBC peaked around 13.7 million viewers and a 4.1 rating among adults aged 18-49.
Viewership-wise, the previous World Series games brought in more fans with Game 1 earning 9.2 million viewers, Game 2 a slightly less 8.95 million, 9.84 million for Game 3, and a bit better 10.21 million for Game 4. Meanwhile, Game 5 only earned 7.4 million.
The ratings mirror last year’s falling numbers, too. Game 5 with the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals averaged a 6.5 rating and only earned 11.39 million viewers on FOX over the weekend. The previous lowest-rated game was the 7.3 rating with12.64 million viewers for Royals-Giants series in 2014, Sports Media Watch noted.
Meanwhile, last year NBC’s Sunday Night Football Packers-Chiefs game won itself a 10.4 rating and 18.32 million viewers, beating MLB’s World Series game by 60 percent in the ratings and 61 percent in total viewers. t the time, it was the biggest spread the NFL has earned over a World Series game in a decade of head-to-head broadcasts.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.