Airing opening night of the 2016 World Series, Fox seized the broadcast title Tuesday with a 5.4 rating in viewers 18-49, per Nielsen’s overnights, and an 18 share. Viewer interest is high, with the championship-starved Chicago Cubs facing off against the championship-starved Cleveland Indians. Last year’s Series opener, featuring the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals, scored a 4.4 rating and 13 share and was viewed by 14.9 million people. That telecast sustained a power outage on Fox, and the game went 14 innings.
Total viewership numbers for the 2016 opener will be released later.
NBC was next up at 2.0/7, then CBS at 1.5/5, ABC at 1.1/4 and The CW at 0.7/2.
On NBC, The Voice slipped 13% to 2.1 while This Is Us, featuring almost as much Pittsburgh Steelers footage as a Sunday Night Football telecast, fell 8% to 2.4. Chicago Fire was down a tenth of a point at 1.6.
On CBS, NCIS decreased 6% to 1.7 and Bull slipped 6% to 1.5, while NCIS: New Orleans gained 8% to 1.3.
On ABC, The Middle was flat at 1.5 and American Housewife dropped 6% to 1.5. Fresh Off the Boat was down a tenth of a point to 1.2 while The Real O’Neals was a flat 1.0. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a flat 0.8.
The Flash did its usual 1.0 on CW while No Tomorrow too was level at 0.3.
