Another day, another set of big viewership numbers from the World Series.
Game 4 of the matchup between the Dodgers and Blue Jays on Tuesday combined to draw 21.5 million viewers in the U.S. and Canada across Fox, Sportsnet, and the French-language TVA Sports, up 21% from last year and extending a run of growth across the event.
Canadian viewership continues to be a major storyline of the entire World Series, and Sportsnet posted an average of 6.2 million viewers for Game 4, a figure that initially trailed only Games 1 and 2 for the most-watched Blue Jays games in network history.
Sportsnet then topped them all for Game 5, averaging 7.2 million viewers on Wednesday as the Blue Jays took a 3–2 World Series lead. Toronto can clinch its first title in 32 years at home Friday at Rogers Centre.
The audience dynamic is not surprising, as while the World Series is a major national and now international event, viewership from the home markets of the two competing teams drives a meaningful chunk of the overall audience. The Blue Jays have all of Canada and its 41 million people as part of their television territory, and the club’s run has captivated the country.
The Game 5 audience for Sportsnet represented nearly 18% of the entire country, a level of penetration seen in the U.S. for only the latter stages of the NFL playoffs.
Fox, meanwhile, averaged 14.8 million viewers in the U.S. for Game 4 of the World Series, down 11% from last year, a situation that is not surprising as the network has only one Nielsen-rated U.S. home market in the matchup.
The trends mirrored those for Game 3 on Monday, as despite the 18-inning length of that game, the audience fell 16% in the U.S. from last year, but rose 27% when also factoring in Canada.
Through four games, the World Series is averaging 19.3 million viewers in the U.S. and Canada, up 23%.
Praise From Fox Brass
Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch, meanwhile, said Thursday in a company earnings call that the World Series extending to at least a sixth game means that the network’s total MLB postseason ad revenue will likely exceed the total from 2024.
“While we thought last year’s Dodgers-Yankees World Series would be a tough act to follow, Major League Baseball has once again performed well for us,” Murdoch said.
That tone is a notable change from two years ago, when he said after the Rangers’ World Series win that “we’d like to see, you know, a bit more sort of national excitement around these games.”
