MLB
2024 MLB World Series television ratings: Record viewership in the US and abroad
With stars like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Juan Soto, Major League Baseball and FOX Network aimed to foster the World Series ratings.
After last year’s record-low viewership, all eyes were on this historic clash between New York and L.A. Can the league recapture the magic of their 1970s rivalry and hit viewership numbers not seen since 2017?
Dodgers vs. Yankees: fans and stakeholders dream come true
The prospect of a 2024 World Series featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees was a dream come true for Major League Baseball. It would mark a revival of a classic rivalry unseen on the World Series stage since 1981. This potential matchup wasn’t just nostalgia-driven; it offered MLB a rare opportunity to tackle sliding TV ratings and reclaim the nation’s attention following last year’s record-low viewership of 9.11 million for the Arizona Diamondbacks-Texas Rangers series.
Historically, Dodgers-Yankees matchups in the late 1970s drew enormous viewership numbers, with more than 44 million tuning in at their peak. However, the sports landscape has been long gone since then. Cable TV and streaming services have fragmented audiences, and the NFL’s meteoric rise has moved the World Series away from prime Sunday night slots.
Yet, MLB was realistically optimistic that a star-studded Yankees-Dodgers showdown—featuring marquee names like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Mookie Betts—could reignite fan interest and attract a broader audience.
What are the audience numbers so far?
Encouraging signs started emerging in the previous postseason rounds: when the Dodgers’ National League Championship Series against the New York Mets drew over 8 million viewers for Game 1, the highest for an NLCS opener since 2009.
The first two games of the 2024 World Series drew an average of 29.7 million viewers in the U.S. and Japan. Game Two alone had 15.9 million viewers in Japan, making it the country‘s most-watched MLB postseason game.
So far, the Fall Classic has averaged 15.15 million viewers in Japan, only. Game Two is the second most-watched MLB game in Japan, behind only the Dodgers’ season opener in Seoul, which attracted 18.7 million viewers in primetime.
The league’s modernization efforts, including a pitch clock and strategies to boost base-stealing, appear to be drawing younger viewers—playoff engagement in the 18-34 demographic rose by 39%, and the median age of ticket buyers has dropped from 51 to 46 since 2019.
In the end, having a Yankees vs. Dodgers matchup, along with the Judge vs. Ohtani duels in the World Series, has already proven to be highly beneficial for both MLB and the FOX network this year. However, the pressing question now is whether they can maintain this momentum in the upcoming season as well.