The Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series ratings were the lowest ever. Only 9.11 million viewers tuned in to watch Texas win – nearly three million fewer than last year – making it one of the least popular Fall Classics in history

The Texas Rangers’ 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in their first-ever championship on Wednesday night drew the largest crowd of this World Series.

However, this wasn’t enough to prevent the five-game series from becoming the least-watched Fall Classic in recorded TV history.

Nielsen and Fox said Thursday that 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.

That was a 23 percent decrease 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, an increase of 3 million compared to Tuesday night’s audience. The total audience on the Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming platforms was 11.64 million.

The World Series averaged 9.11 million viewers this year, down 23 percent from last year’s Fall Classic

Wednesday’s Game 5 averaged 11.48 million on Fox, an increase of 3 million compared to Tuesday’s audience

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

For the final three outs, viewership peaked at 14.27 million viewers.

Baseball and network executives expected this year’s series could face a difficult audience because of two teams that don’t have much national appeal. The expanded playoffs also meant that it was a series in which the teams with the seventh and eleventh best records met.

However, the fact that the Rangers are the ninth champions since 2013 and 14 teams have qualified for the Fall Classic during that same period certainly has some appeal for Fox executives.

“I think it’s good 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,” said Mike Mulvihill, EVP, Head of Strategy and Analytics at Fox.

“But I admit that it’s difficult to get ratings in the short term when you bring together some brands that don’t really have traditional national boards.”

However, the World Series managed to outperform every entertainment program this year

The World Series had an audience of 14.27 million viewers for its final three games on Wednesday

Bob Thompson, the retired president of Fox Sports Networks who heads his own consulting group, also saw scheduling and a short-form series as factors in the low viewership.

“I think Friday night’s start is probably something the baseball player should watch.” Typically, it’s the worst night of the week for attendance. “Then there were a few games where people probably quit early,” he said. “When someone has a chance of winning, the numbers are usually high.”

The World Series continues to outperform every entertainment program. This was the eighth consecutive year this has happened.

It was the most watched event on four of the five evenings. The only thing to beat was Monday Night Football when the Detroit Lions beat the Las Vegas Raiders.

“Both of our hopes and expectations are to beat everything in the entertainment industry and have a long streak.” “We didn’t really get a long streak, but we still beat everything in the entertainment industry,” Mulvihill said. “As long as the show continues to do that, it will always be strong in prime time.”

The addition of the pitch clock and shorter games saw ratings on the regional sports network increase seven percent during the regular season, with 16 of the 29 U.S.-based teams showing an improvement.

National regular season ratings increased for Fox/FS1 and TBS while remaining flat for ESPN.