The Boston Red Sox may have been celebrating their World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night, but Fox was probably hoping the champagne celebration would’ve come this Tuesday or Wednesday.
The 2018 World Series, which the Red Sox won in five games, drew 14.1 million viewers (per Nielsen), a dip of 25 percent from last year’s World Series, which also featured the Dodgers. That series, which saw the Houston Astros win in seven games, averaged 18.7 million viewers.
The 14.1 million was a far cry from the past two years (Fox drew 22.8 million in 2016) and was the network’s least-viewed since 2014 when 13.9 million watched the San Francisco Giants defeat the Kansas City Royals in 7 games.
Fox’s overall viewership this year was lifted by the 17.6 million that tuned in Sunday night, which was at least 4 million more on average compared to the first four games. This year’s World Series also featured the longest game in Series history — a 3-2 victory in 18 innings by the Dodgers — that spanned 7 hours and 20 minutes, ending sometime past 3 a.m. on the east coast.
It was also below the last time the Red Sox were in the World Series in 2013 — when they beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 6 games — which averaged just a hair under 15 million (14.98M). The least viewed World Series on record when the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in four games in 2012 — was seen by just an average of 12.6 million viewers.