Dodgers-Yankees World Series scores close to 16 million viewers for Fox, a seven-year high

The blockbuster World Series matchup of the Dodgers playing the New York Yankees gave Fox an expected ratings boost.

Nielsen data showed the five-game Series that concluded Wednesday with a Dodgers come-from-behind 7-6 win averaged 15.8 million viewers.

The figure is up 67% over last year’s five-game Series, when the Texas Rangers topped the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers-Yankees showdown delivered the largest audience for a five-game series since 2015, when an average of 14.5 million viewers watched the Kansas City Royals defeat the New York Mets. It was the most-watched World Series of any length since the Houston Astros beat the Dodgers in seven games in 2017.

Fox benefited from having teams in the two largest TV markets. It was also a platform for the game’s two biggest stars, Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the Yankees. Both are the favorites to win the most valuable player award in their respective leagues.

The last time the Dodgers faced the Yankees in the Fall Classic was in 1981. The Dodgers won that Series four games to two.

The short series kept Fox from seeing a decisive World Series Game 7, which in the past has drawn as many as 40 million viewers. But every game of the 2024 match paced ahead of comparable contests in recent years.

The deciding game Wednesday averaged 18.6. million viewers nationally. In Los Angeles, the game was watched by 21.1% of TV homes in the market. In New York, the figure was 14.8%.

Game 4, which was the lone win by the Yankees, averaged 16.3 million viewers, the most-watched World Series game since 2019.

Game 3 of the Fall Classic went up against an NFL “Monday Night Football” contest on ABC and ESPN. The 13.6 million viewers who watched Fox topped the 13.4 million who tuned in for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 26-18 win over the New York Giants.