Ratings: Fox Wins Halloween With Frightening NFL/World Series Combo

Drown your sorrows in Skittles, NBC (or wait for final Nielsen numbers tomorrow)

World Series - Atlanta Braves v Houston Astros - Game Five
Photo by Michael Zarrilli/Getty Images

Not only did Fox have afternoon NFL football on Halloween Sunday, it capped the evening off with Game 5 of the 2021 World Series. The Houston Astros stayed alive with a 9-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves, who still lead the series 3-2.

Due to the nature of live sports, the below Nielsen numbers for NBC and Fox should be considered subject to significant adjustment. Final figures should be in on Tuesday.

For now, Fox was first in ratings with a 3.1 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 14.2 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers include one hour of pro football — but only for the East Coast. The rest of primetime was filled by Game 5 of the World Series.

Nielsen numbers in this story are not time-zone adjusted and do not include out-of-home viewing.

NBC was second in ratings with a 2.9 and in total viewers with 10.9 million — again, that’s on a “for now” basis. “Sunday Night Football” and its pregame show combined to put up that initial data.

CBS was third in ratings with a 0.5 and in total viewers with 5.4 million. At 7, “60 Minutes” drew a 0.6 and 7 million viewers. “The Equalizer” at 8 earned a 0.6 and 6.3 million viewers. “NCIS: Los Angeles” at 9 landed a 0.5 and 5 million viewers. At 10, “SEAL Team” settled for a 0.3 and 3.2 million viewers.

ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.4 and in total viewers with 3.1 million. At 7, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” opened the primetime block with a 0.4 and 4.1 million viewers. “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” at 8 got a 0.4 and 3.5 million viewers. At 9, “Supermarket Sweep” managed a 0.3 and 2.2 million viewers. At 10, “The Rookie” closed the night with a 0.3 and 2.6 million viewers.

The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 316,000. “Legends of the Hidden Temple” at 8 had a 0.1 and 216,000 viewers. Back-to-back repeats followed.

We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.

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