Major League Baseball is experiencing a thrilling World Series, with home runs flying out of ballparks and fans rediscovering the Grand Old Game this postseason. The NFL, however, is a league "on fire," according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, with players battling owners, fans boycotting games and TV viewers tuning out.
That raises the question of whether the different states of the NFL and MLB are impacting TV viewership.
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With a strong 12.8 overnight TV rating, Fox's telecast of the Astros' Game 5 win over the Dodgers handily beat NBC's "Sunday Night Football" telecast of the Steelers vs. Lions, which drew a 9.4 Nielsen rating. That means Sunday night's Game 5 numbers were 36 percent higher than the NFL's "SNF" numbers, according to Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Daily.
Overnight rating for Fox' World Series Game 5 last night was 36% higher than NBC's "SNF." Last year, head-to-head gap was 32%
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) October 30, 2017
It's not the first time — and it won't be the last time — the World Series beat the NFL in a head-to-head TV matchup. But it is an indicator that MLB, which typically runs a distant second to pro football in TV ratings, could be gaining ground on the mighty NFL, which has lost 18 percent of its average viewership in the past two years.
TV ratings for the Astros' 13-12 win peaked at 14.2 from 11:30 p.m ET to 11:45 p.m. ET. The 12.8 overnight was down 16 percent from last season's Cubs-Indians Game 5, but up 9 percent over Game 5 of Royals-Mets in 2015, and 56 percent higher than Game 5 of Giants-Royals in 2014. Meanwhile, Saturday's Game 4 drew the best World Series TV numbers on a Saturday night since 2004.
— FOX Sports PR (@FOXSportsPR) October 30, 2017
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Via Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated:
The thrilling 10-inning win by the Astros in Game 5 of the World Series drew a 12.8 overnight, per Austin Karp of Sports Business Daily. That topped the 9.4 overnight rating, per an industry source, for the Steelers’ win over the Lions on NBC.
Karp said the MLB numbers for the Boston and Hartford markets did not come in due to weather so the likelihood is the baseball rating is even higher. NBC said the Sunday Night Football ratings also did not include the Boston, Hartford and Providence markets.
It’s not the only time the World Series has topped Sunday Night Football in the overnights but it is not a regular occurrence. Last year Cubs-Indians Game 3 drew a 15.3 overnight rating, topping Cowboys-Eagles (11.6). According to Sports Media Watch, that was the first time since 2013 that the World Series has topped SNF head-to-head.
Of course, the NFL is still the 300-pound gorilla when it comes to sports TV ratings. But baseball certainly seems to be picking up some of the "stick to sports" TV viewers offended by NFL players protesting for social justice.
