Ratings: Baseball Takes a Backseat to Football – Fox’s World Series Finishes Third in Viewers

CBS tops NBC by just 8,000 total viewers — for now — thanks to an early NFL overrun

Pittsburgh Steelers

Whew — that was a close one. Sunday primetime’s total viewers battle we mean, not the blowout football games that determined first and second place in that metric. Last night, CBS edged NBC by a mere 8,000 total viewers, finishing first by that count.

Both nets that had football counted in primetime topped Fox’s World Series — at least in total viewers. However, due to the nature of live sports, fast national ratings for those three networks are approximate and subject to change.

For now, NBC was first in ratings with a 5.0 rating/14 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and second in viewers with an average of 13.762 million, according to preliminary numbers. Part 1 of “Sunday Night Football” at 7 p.m. got a 1.4/5 and 5 million viewers. Part 2 at 7:30 had a 2.0/6 and 6.3 million viewers. Part 3 at 8 received a 4.6/13 and 12.8 million viewers. The game itself earned a night-high rating with a 6.4/17 and had 17.2 million viewers.

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Fox, which aired Game 5 of the World Series in primetime, was second in ratings with a 2.9 and third in total viewers with 10.5 million. Fox Sports had yet to release further details for the game; final national numbers should be out this afternoon.

CBS was third in ratings with a 2.8/8 and first in viewers with 13.770 million. An NFL overrun at 7 scored a 5.8/18 and a primetime-best 20.5 million. At 8, “60 Minutes” received a 2.4/7 — doubling its number last week — and 13.5 million viewers. “Madam Secretary” at 9 had a 1.5/4 and 11.6 million viewers. “The Good Wife” at 10 got a 1.4/4 and 9.6 million viewers.

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ABC was fourth in ratings with a 1.3/4 and in viewers with 4.5 million. A “Star Wars Rebels” special at 7 had a 0.6/2 and 2.5 million viewers. “Once Upon a Time” at 8 earned a 2.3/6 and 6.6 million viewers. “Resurrection” at 9 got a 1.2/3 and 4.4 million viewers. “Revenge” at 10 had a 1.1/3 and 4.3 million viewers.

Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.9/3 and in total viewers with 2.3 million.

Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in total viewers with 677,000.

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