TV Ratings: MLB Trounces The NFL

Sunday's Game 5 of the World Series — the last to be played in Houston and the second-longest on record — climbed again on Sunday night, trouncing NBC's typically dominant Sunday Night Football in the process, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Early indicators have the Astros' 13-12 win taking the No. 1 spot for primetime — averaging a 12.8 overnight rating among households. That's off 16 percent from the comparable Game 5 in 2016 but still the second-biggest Game 5 since 2003. It also easily ranked as the biggest World Series game of 2017 thus far.

As for Sunday Night Football, the Pittsburgh-Detroit game had little chance of improving on the previous week's appearance from the New England Patriots. The game dropped to a 9.4 overnight rating. That's also down significantly from the comparable weekend a year ago.


What's particularly incredible about Sunday's World Series game is the stamina the audience had, even with the bloated run-time. The game ran a whopping 5 hours and 17 minutes — stretching well past midnight on the East Coast. Viewership, it seems, did not drop off after 12 a.m.