World Series ratings up for Game 4

NEW YORK -- The most exciting game of this World Series was also the most watched.

Fox's broadcast of the New York Yankees' 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Derek Jeter's 10th-inning homer Wednesday night in Game 4 drew a 15.8 national rating and 27 share.

That's the largest audience for the Fall Classic this year and 26 percent higher than the fourth game of the 2000 Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets.

Viewership increased each half-hour from the game's start until 11:30 p.m., before dipping slightly until the game ended.

The rating in New York, the country's largest TV market, was 28.2/41, while in Phoenix it was a whopping 54.1/72.

Through four games, the Series is averaging a 14.4 rating and 24 share, 18 percent better than the 12.2/21 from last year.

Yankees-Mets, also on Fox, was the worst-rated World Series ever, averaging a 12.4 rating and 21 share, down 23 percent from 1999 and 12 percent from 1998's previous record low.

The rating is the percentage of 105.5 million U.S. television households tuned to a program. The share is the percentage watching a broadcast among TVs on at the time.

Fox is in the first season of a $2.5 billion, six-year contract with baseball.