Will Dodgers-Yankees World Series Boost MLB Ratings?

Published: October 29, 2024

Will Dodgers-Yankees World Series Boost MLB Ratings?

By Movieguied® Contributor

Baseball fans have been wanting a New York Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers World Series matchup for years, and it’s finally happening.

Fox Sports is also grateful for the big-time game as it’s expected to boost viewership.

“Due to the size of the markets and the pedigree of the franchises, baseball’s boosters have reason to be bullish about the ratings potential of the Fall Classic,” Deadline reported. “Viewership in the postseason has already been trending well, with the American and National League championship series averaging 5.35 million viewers on Fox, FS1, and TBS, the best since 2017.”

For Game 1 of the World Series, “FOX TV ratings drew 15.2 million viewers, the largest Game 1 audience since the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and Dodgers and a 62% increase over last year’s Arizona Diamondbacks-Texas Rangers opener. The audience peaked to 17.8 million from 11:30 p.m. ET to the end of the game,” USA Today reported.

Fox has several factors to thank for the increased viewership.

“…the hometowns of the teams also make a big difference. The NYC and LA markets are the two biggest in the country, with nearly 19 million and 15.7 million people, respectively. And according to Nielsen, 55% of people watching TV in LA tuned into Game 2 and 32% of people watching TV in NYC did the same,” Forbes reported.

The matchup also features Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the Yankees, who Forbes calls “two of the game’s brightest stars.”

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “The ratings were really good…I see this matchup as an opportunity to kind of amplify everything we’ve been working on for the last few years. You know, focus on the players, trying to grow the game into a more national product, international growth, young people.

“You know, you get a stage like this, it’s an opportunity to take a step forward,” he added.

Manfred is also anticipating good numbers from Japan.

“We’re hoping we get really good numbers,’’ he said. “They’ve been great so far in the postseason, and we’re hoping we can get another good one. You should with that game.’’

The Dodgers have taken a 2-0 series lead against the Yankees.