TV Ratings for Oct. 23 - 29

The Astros’ 13-12, 10-inning victory in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday was the most-watched prime-time program between Oct. 23 and Sunday, averaging 18.94 million viewers, beating NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 20-15 victory over the Detroit Lions, which ran opposite most of Game 5, finished seventh for the week, averaging 13.862 million viewers.

Fox’s coverage of the opening five games of the World Series swept the top five spots in last week’s ratings, despite a 16.6% drop in viewership from last year. The first five games between the Dodgers and Houston Astros averaged 16.098 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen. The average viewership was the second largest through five games of a World Series since 2010. Only the first five games of the 2016 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians averaged more. The first five games of the 2016 Series averaged 19.298 million, the most through five games since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox’s four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals averaged 25.39 million.

The World Series propelled Fox to its first weekly ratings victory since it aired Super Bowl LI Feb. 5, averaging 13.17 million viewers. It had finished fourth among the four major broadcast networks 35 of the previous 37 weeks.

CBS was second after winning each of the first four weeks of the 2017-18 season, averaging 7.78 million viewers. NBC was third, averaging 6.93 million, followed by ABC, which was fourth, averaging 4.54 million viewers.

Fox’s NFL programming also contributed to the victory, with the final 41 minutes of its coverage of the Dallas-Washington game running into prime time.

Fox’s 19-minute NFL postgame show, “The OT,” was eighth for the week, averaging 13.595 million viewers.

CBS aired the week’s two most-watched non-sports programs — “NCIS,” ninth for the week, averaging 13.303 million and “The Big Bang Theory,” 10th for the week, averaging 13.205 million.

Sports also accounted for the week’s most-watched cable program, the Oct. 23 “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN, where the Philadelphia Eagles’ 34-24 victory over Washington averaged 11.353 million viewers, 12th overall.