The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
