The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
