In Game 3 of the 2025 World Series on October 27, Fox ran out of paid national ad spots by the 13th inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers' marathon 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, filling nearly two hours of subsequent breaks—through the 18th inning—with self-promos instead of commercials, as the game stretched to 6 hours and 39 minutes, ending at 3 a.m. ET with Freddie Freeman's walk-off homer.
This tied for the longest World Series game in history (matching the 2018 Red Sox-Dodgers clash), giving the Dodgers a 2-1 series lead and boosting Fox's leverage for future ad sales despite lower overall ratings.
The Dodgers' thriller averaged 11.4 million U.S. viewers across Fox platforms (down 16% from 2024's Dodgers-Yankees series), peaking at 13.2 million around 11:30 p.m. ET but holding steady with 8 million in the 2:45 a.m. quarter-hour—over half its peak audience—demonstrating remarkable late-night retention for a game that began at 8:08 p.m. ET.
Fox typically sells 108.5 national ad spots for World Series games, anticipating extra inventory from pitching changes, home-team wins, and playoff drama—far more than the 76 spots in a standard nine-inning affair. Each 30-second slot commands $350,000–$800,000, sold months in advance based on projected length.
The 18-inning epic exhausted this by the 13th (around 12:30 a.m. ET), prompting Fox to forgo real-time sales—deemed unfeasible due to plummeting post-midnight viewership—and pivot to promos for shows like The Masked Singer or upcoming NFL coverage.