The conclusion of the Phillies v. Rays World Series drew half of all Philadelphia households (51.8%) and almost one-third (32.4%) of all Tampa Bay households.
The game aired on FOX Wednesday night, between 8:30pm and 10:15pm EDT.  
In comparison, just 29% of Philly households and 23.4% of Tampa Bay households watched Barack Obama’s infomercial in the half hour leading up to what proved to be the Phillies-Rays’ final game.
The half-hour political simulcast — the first of its kind, since Ross Perot ran a political telecast on the eve of Election Day in 1996 — aired on CBS, …

Updated: The conclusion of Game 5 of the MLB World Series, in which the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1, drew 19.8 million average viewers Wednesday night — the series’ largest TV audience. 
The first half of Game 5, on Monday night, drew 13.2 million average TV viewers — before a rain delay suspended play in the bottom of the sixth inning.

DATE
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
(GAME 5 – conclusion)
FOX
19,844,000

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2008
(GAME 5 – suspended in 6th inning by rain delay)
FOX
13,237,000

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2008
(GAME 4)
FOX
15,479,000

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008
(GAME 3)
FOX
9,836,000

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2008
(GAME …

Each week, Nielsen Sports analysts offer their take on the biggest sports media headlines.
This past weekend, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama faced some tough competition in Pennsylvania. 
With the Phillies playing in the World Series and college and pro football games on both Saturday and Sunday, there was no shortage of TV sports options for politics-weary Pennsylvanians, looking for a break from presidential campaigning.
The action started on Saturday in western Pennsylvania, as the Penn State Nittany Lions took on their Big 10 Rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  In nearby Pittsburgh, 20.8% of …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,492,000

2
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,497,000

3
NCIS
CBS
17,226,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,350,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,953,000

6
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4(S)
FOX
15,479,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,282,000

8
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
15,012,000

9
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1(S)
FOX
14,634,000

10
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,630,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 20, 2008 – October 26, 2008).