WORLD SERIES LIFTS FOX FROM LAST TO FIRST

Thanks to the World Series — and especially the seventh game — Fox scored a rare ratings win for the week among the key 18-49 age group. Among total adult viewers, however, Fox took a back seat to CBS with 25 percent fewer viewers (CBS: 10.82 million; Fox: 8.13 million). NBC was a close third with 7.58 million, followed by ABC with 6.70 million viewers. That seventh game of the World Series, played on Wednesday, was easily the most-watched program of the week, drawing 23.5 million viewers who watched the San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals. The sixth game of the series, played on Saturday, managed to make the top ten in tenth place. NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the usual No. 1 show, came in at No. 2 with 18.60 million viewers. Earlier on Sunday, CBS’s 60 Minutes, aided by a huge runover for the network’s afternoon NFL telecast (not included in Nielsen’s primetime averages), delivered 17.80 million viewers, to place third for the week. The World Series telecasts also appeared to chase NBC’s two editions of The Voice out of the top ten. (They came in at No. 11 and 14.) And ratings for The Blacklist, NBC’s other entertainment hit, plunged to 23rd place. The audience spread for the evening newscasts remained about the same, with NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams retaining the top spot with 8.69 million viewers, followed by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, with 8.11 million and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley with 6.67 million viewers.

The top ten shows of the week, according to household ratings provided by Nielsen Research:
1. World Series Game 7, Fox, 13.7/23; 2. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 11.1/18; 3. 60 Minutes, CBS, 110./17; 4. NCIS, CBS, 10.9/17; 5. The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 10.0/17; 6. NCIS: New Orleans, CBS, 9.9/15; 7. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 8.4/13; 8. Madam Secretary, CBS, 8.3/13; 8. Sunday Night Football Pre-Kickoff, NBC, 8.3/13; 10. World Series Game 6, Fox, 8.1/13.