With Ohtani and Yamamoto playing, World Series averaged record 12.9 million viewers in Japan

Saturday, November 2, 2024 9:52AM PT
LOS ANGELES -- With Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto making their first appearance, the World Series averaged 12.9 million viewers in Japan, making it the most-watched Fall Classic in the nation's history.

Along with the United States ratings, the five-game series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees had a combined 28.7 million average in the two countries.

The Dodgers' 4-2 victory in Game 2 averaged 15.9 million in Japan, making it the most-watched postseason game in the nation's history, according to Major League Baseball. Yamamoto was the Dodgers' starting pitcher and allowed only one run and one hit in 6 1/3 innings.

Tokyo is 19 hours ahead of New York and 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles, meaning the games started around 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday morning in Japan. The games were carried through Fuji TV, NHK BS and J Sports.

The Series also delivered record viewership in Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Taiwan, according to MLB.

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The World Series averaged 15.8 million viewers in the U.S. on Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming, its best performance since 2017. That is a 67% increase over last year, when the Texas Rangers' victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games averaged only 9.11 million, which was the lowest-recorded Series average.



Los Angeles was the top market with a 18.9 rating and 53 share while New York was third with a 12.4 rating and 41 share. San Diego was second at 12.4 and 41.

The rating is the percentage of television households tuned in. The share refers to a percentage of the audience viewing it at the time.

Fox and FS1 averaged 7.49 million for the postseason, a 42% jump over last year, and its best average in seven years.

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