2015 World Series Leads Off With Highest Rated Game 1 Since 2009

MLB 10/28/2015

Game 1 of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals was a 14-innnig classic by any fan’s definition, with a rare inside-the-park home run, leads taken and lost, heads-up base running and a dramatic bottom-of-the-ninth game-tying homer. All components that make for an electrifying start to the Fall Classic, one that posted a 9.0/17 household rating/share, with 14.9 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series Game 1 since 2009, according to fast national figures released today by Nielsen.

World Series Game 1 Highlights:
– Highest-rated World Series Game 1 since 2009 (11.9/19, Phillies-Yankees).
– 40.6 million viewers watched all or part of last night’s thrilling game.
– Most-watched World Series Game 1 since 2010 (15.0 million, Giants-Rangers).
– Up +23% in rating and 22% in audience compared to Giants-Royals Game 1 last year (7.3/12, 12.2 million).
– Last night’s broadcast posted impressive increases across key demos including: M18-34 (4.7 vs. 3.9, +21%); M18-49 (6.0 vs. 4.3, +40%); M25-54 (6.8 vs. 5.0, +36%); A18-49 (4.6 vs. 3.4, +35%).
– From 8:04-11:00 PM ET, FOX averaged an 8.9/15, with 14.9 million viewers, which projects to be the network’s best prime time performance on a Tuesday since February 2012.
– The World Series powered FOX to a first place household finish in prime time (preliminary): FOX – 8.9/15; CBS – 7.8/13; NBC – 4.7/8; and ABC – 2.5/4.
– FOX also won the night in prime time among Adults 18-49 (4.4).
– Initial tune-in was a 6.3/11 with 10.3 million viewers from 8:04-8:15 PM ET. Ratings peaked at a 10.4/18, with 17.3 million viewers from 10:45-11:00 PM ET.
– The first nine innings of the game averaged a 9.1/16, with 15.2 million viewers from 8:04-11:30 PM ET, and held fairly steady through the five extra innings (8.9/21, with 14.4 million viewers) from 11:30 PM ET-1:02 AM ET.

World Series Game 1 Streaming Highlights:
– World Series Game 1 is FOX Sports GO’s most-viewed MLB game and the second most-viewed event of all-time on an authenticated basis with more than 177,000 unique streamers.

World Series Game 1 Local Highlights:
– Locally, Kansas City led all markets with an impressive 57.3 rating, followed by New York (26.2). The rating in Kansas City is the highest recorded for a single market for a World Series Game 1 since at least 1996.
– St. Louis (16.1), Hartford (14.4), Tulsa (11.8), West Palm Beach (11.3), Denver (10.7), Milwaukee and Phoenix (10.5), and Las Vegas (10.4) round out the top 10.