The 2024 World Series goes in the books as the most watched Fall Classic since 2017.
The Los Angeles Dodgers completed their five-game series win over the New York Yankees with 7-6 win Wednesday. Fox Sports outlets (the broadcast network, Fox Deportes and streaming services) averaged 18.6 million viewers for the game, also a seven-year high for a World Series game five. The main Fox broadcast drew 18.15 million viewers.
The series as a whole averaged 15.81 million viewers across all platforms, making it the biggest World Series since the Houston Astros’ seven-game victory over the Dodgers in 2017 averaged 18.93 million. This year’s series delivered the fourth largest audience for Major League Baseball’s championship since 2010, trailing only the 2016 (22.85 million viewers), 2017 and 2011 (16.52 million) editions. All three of those series went a full seven games.
The 2024 World Series also posted huge gains over last year, which sunk to an all-time low of 9.11 million viewers per game. The 15.81 million viewers this year represents a nearly 74 percent increase year to year.
Wednesday’s deciding game peaked with 21.27 million viewers from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET, and the full telecast was up by 58 percent over last year’s game five (11.48 million viewers), which was also a clincher.
The big gains for the World Series — which featured marquee teams from the country’s two biggest media markets — build on a strong postseason for MLB. The three previous rounds of the playoffs improved by about 17 percent over 2023.
