Fox's World Series is most-watched in 5 years

UPDATED: Fox wrapped its World Series coverage Wednesday touting the most-watched and highest-rated Fall Classic in five years.

This year's World Series averaged 19.4 million viewers and a 6.2 rating -- the largest single-year ratings increase in the championship's history.

Fox made some strategic shifts this season for the Series. Four of the six games started before 8 p.m. ET and edged into November for the first time, resulting in demonstrably higher ratings. Post-season sports on Fox can sometimes act as a disruptive drag on the network's ticket, but according to Fox this year's run was the equivalent of having a full season of a Top 10 primetime show.

Wednesday's Game 6 posted another double-digit climb over last year and squashed competitors, averaging 22.3 million viewers and a 7.4 rating among adults 18-49, up 41% in the demo from 2008.

Though rivals have largely held up against Fox's sports coverage this past week, last night really put the hurt on other shows. With the exception of CBS' "New Adventures of Old Christine," every major broadcast network series was down in the adult demo.

CBS was a distant second for the night with "Old Christine" (7 million, 2.0) up a tick, yet "Gary Unmarried" (6.7 million, 2.0), "Criminal Minds" (12 million, 3.2) and "CSI: NY" (11.6 million, 2.7) all down roughly 8%. Same goes for ABC's "Hank" (5.3 million, 1.3), "The Middle" (6.1 million, 1.9) and "Modern Family" (8.6 million, 3.5). ABC's "Cougar Town" (6.8 million, 2.8) and "Eastwick" (4.6 million, 1.5) fell a bit more, about 13%. "Cougar Town," "Eastwick" and and "CSI: NY" all hit series lows.

NBC's "Mercy" (6.6 million, 1.7), "Law & Order: SVU" (8 million, 2.4) and "Jay Leno Show" (4.7 million, 1.4) all dropped slightly.

The CW's "America's Next Top Model" (4 million, 1.7) bucked the trend and hit a season high.