World Series was least-watched Fall Classic in TV history - ESPN

The Texas Rangers 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks for their first championship on Wednesday night drew the largest audience of this World Series. However, it was not enough to prevent the five-game series from being the least-watched Fall Classic in recorded TV history.

Nielsen and Fox said Thursday the World Series averaged 9.11 million viewers, less than the 9.79 million average from the 2020 series, when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in six games.

It was a 23% decline from last year's series, when the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games and averaged 11.78 million.

Wednesday night's game averaged 11.48 million on Fox, a jump of 3 million compared to Tuesday night's audience. The total audience across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming platforms was 11.64 million.

It was the first audience over 10 million for this year's series. Monday night's Game 3 set the record for the least-watched World Series game on record at 8.13 million.

The audience peaked with 14.27 million viewers for the final three outs.

Baseball and network executives figured this year's series might face a tough audience because of two teams that don't have much national appeal. The expanded playoffs also meant it was a series matching the teams with the seventh- and 11th-best records.

However, the Rangers being the ninth champion since 2013 and 14 teams qualifying for the Fall Classic in the same span does have some appeal for Fox executives.

«I think it's a good thing for the health of baseball to have new pennant winners and new champions, new teams playing in the World Series. You don't want it to be the same market and the same brands every year,» Fox EVP, Head of Strategy and Analytics Mike