Key Points
- Fox’s last five World Series games boosted the network to the top of the ratings pile during Nielsen’s most-recent measurement week (which didn’t include the first two games).
- Game 7 of the World Series was the most-watched, non-aggregate TV event, attracting nearly 27 million viewers to Fox.
- Fox News dominated the cable TV ranker with eight of the top 10 programs.
- Monday Night Football lost more than 40 percent of its audience in the final week of ESPN’s availability on YouTube TV.
- Scripps-owned Ion broke into the top 10 ranker among broadcast and cable networks in prime-time.
Last week was a good one for Fox.
The network’s highly-anticipated World Series Game 7 match-up between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays was the single most-watched event on television, according to new data from Nielsen shared with The Desk on Wednesday.
During its most-recent measurement week (October 27 to November 2), Fox had five of the top 10 broadcast television events, the Nielsen data showed, with its World Series telecasts accounting for four of the most-watched telecasts.
Fox’s broadcast of Game 7 attracted 26.88 million viewers and grabbed an 8.4 share, according to Nielsen data, which is based on its traditional TV panels and measurements across streaming apps.
Fox aired five World Series games during Nielsen’s measurement week, which attracted an average audience of 16.91 million viewers. All but Game 3 ranked among the top 10 TV broadcasts during the week.
CBS maintained its position at the top of the broadcast chart, with its regional National Football League (NFL) games attracting 30.84 million viewers. Nielsen counts the late-window NFL games as a single TV event, even though viewers in different parts of the country receive telecasts involving different teams.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” ranked as the sixth most-watched broadcast TV event during the measurement week, attracting 15.61 million viewers with its match-up between the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Commanders. The NFL event, which typically places higher in the broadcast TV ranker, was almost certainly displaced by Fox’s later World Series games. The match-up was also lopsided, with Seattle scoring on several of its early drives and Washington unable to make a comeback in the second half of the game (despite a concerted effort that, controversially, led to a serious injury to the team’s quarterback just before the game ended.).
On cable TV, ESPN topped the chart with its “Monday Night Football” game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders, which attracted 4.83 million viewers to the network, a 43 percent decrease compared to the prior week’s top game. The Chiefs-Commanders game was the last one available to subscribers of YouTube TV, which lost access to ESPN and other Disney-owned channels four days later as part of an ongoing business-related dispute between the media giant and YouTube TV’s owner Google.
While ESPN had the most-watched program on cable TV, Fox News dominated the cable ranker, securing eight of the top 10 most-watched programs on the list. The top telecasts of the evening roundtable show “The Five” attracted an average audience of 3.6 million viewers, while its prime-time political commentary program “Jesse Watters Primetime” saw an average audience of 3.1 million viewers tune in.
In prime-time, the Big Four broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — maintained their dominance on the top 10 list, though Fox had a commanding lead with 13.64 million viewers, attributed to the five World Series games that aired during the week. NBC was in a distant second place with 4.61 million viewers.
Univision and Telemundo traded places, with Univision coming out ahead at 1.03 million viewers, compared to Telemundo’s 781,000 viewers. The E. W. Scripps Company’s multicast network Ion broke into the top 10 at 539,000 viewers for the week, coming out ahead of the CW Network, Comedy Central, CNN, Cartoon Network, Food Network and HGTV.
Top-Rated Broadcast TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
NFL on CBS (4:25p ET games)
30.84 million
9.6
2
MLB World Series: Game 7
26.88 million
8.4
3
NFL on CBS (1:05p ET games)
18.46 million
5.7
4
MLB World Series: Game 6
17.68 million
5.5
5
NFL on Fox
16.04 million
5.0
6
Sunday Night Football: SEA/WAS
15.61 million
4.9
7
MLB World Series: Game 4
14.53 million
4.5
8
MLB World Series: Game 5
14.29 million
4.4
9
60 Minutes
13.97 million
4.3
10
Football Night in America
13.47 million
4.2
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (October 27-November 2, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top-Rated Cable TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
Monday Night Football – WAS/KC
4.83 million
1.5
2
The Five (Oct. 29)
3.75 million
1.2
3
The Five (Oct. 28)
3.7 million
1.2
4
The Five (Oct. 30)
3.66 million
1.1
5
The Five (Oct. 27)
3.61 million
1.1
6
Jesse Watters Primetime (Oct. 29)
3.52 million
1.1
7
The Five (Oct. 31)
3.37 million
1.1
8
Jesse Watters Primetime (Oct. 30)
3.11 million
1.0
9
Jesse Watters Primetime (Oct. 28)
2.95 million
0.9
10
Monday Night Football kick-off
2.94 million
0.9
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (October 27-November 2, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top TV Networks, Prime-Time (Broadcast/Cable)
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
13.64 million
4.2
2
4.61 million
1.5
3
4.5 million
1.4
4
3.97 million
1.2
5
2.11 million
0.7
6
1.33 million
0.4
7
1.03 million
0.3
8
781,000
0.2
9
765,000
0.2
10
