The 2024 World Series goes into the books as the most-watched fall classic since 2017.
The Los Angeles Dodgers completed their five-game winning streak over the New York Yankees with a 7-6 win on Wednesday. Fox Sports outlets (the broadcast network, Fox Deportes and streaming services) averaged 18.6 million viewers for the game, also the highest in seven years for a fifth World Series game.
The series as a whole averaged 15.81 million viewers across all platforms, making it the largest World Series since the Houston Astros' seven-game victory over the Dodgers in 2017, which averaged 18.93 million. This year's series had the fourth-largest audience for Major League Baseball since 2010, behind only the 2016 (22.85 million), 2017 and 2011 (16.52 million) editions. All three of these series lasted a full seven games.
The 2024 World Series also saw huge gains over last year, falling to an all-time low of 9.11 million viewers per game. This year's 15.81 million viewers represents a nearly 74% year-over-year increase.
Wednesday's decisive game peaked with 21.27 million viewers from 11:15 to 11:30 p.m. ET, and the full telecast was up 58% from last year's fifth game (11.48 million viewers ), which is also decisive.
The big gains for the World Series – which featured major teams from the country's two largest media markets – build on a strong postseason for MLB. The previous three rounds of the playoffs improved by about 17% compared to 2023.