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Thursday, November 21, 2024

World Series Delivers 7-Year Ratings Record, Marking MLB’s Big Comeback

Viewership of the five-game Dodgers win soared by 74% over last year.

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Baseball came back in a big way on the national stage during the 2024 World Series, closing out the five-game Dodgers win over the Yankees with the event’s best showing since 2017.

Fox Sports said the taut series—far closer than the final margin would suggest—averaged 15.8 million viewers across all network platforms, 74% over last year’s matchup between the Rangers and Diamondbacks that drew a record-low audience. Each of the five games this year carried a noteworthy element:

The overall lift also arrived despite the league and network missing out on a sixth and seventh game of the World Series that would have drawn even higher viewership totals, and tens of millions in additional advertising revenue for Fox Sports.

The high-profile matchup included two of the league’s most popular teams and the two largest U.S. media markets. But MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said earlier during the World Series that totals such as these are both a culmination and acceleration of several league initiatives, including prominently marketing the game’s stars and leaning more in to the sport’s international appeal.

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