MLB World Series Viewership Up 27% – International Interest Grows
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World Series Viewership Soars to Highest Levels Since 2016
The epic 18-inning overtime game three of the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 17.62 million viewers across the US and Canada - despite lasting nearly seven hours.
while many viewers inevitably turned off before the game’s conclusion, the broadcast still proved popular in the early hours of the morning with eight million people still watching Fox’s coverage in the US at 2.45am East coast time.
The figure represents a 27 per cent increase from last year’s game three and builds on strong audiences for the first two games of the Fall Classic, which averaged 19.8 million across the US and Canada – the largest combined audience as 2016 and a 27 per cent increase from last year.
After an epic 18-inning Game 3, the #WorldSeries presented by Capital One is generating double-digit combined viewership growth in the U.S. and Canada. pic.twitter.com/fXoZzVRsR7
– MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 29,2025
Game one was watched by an average of 13.3 million viewers on Fox in the US, with game two averaging 11.6 million on the same channel.
North of the border, Sportsnet averaged seven million for game one and 6.6 million for game two, making the two matchups the two most-watched ever in Canada. Additionally, french language network TVA sports averaged 502,000 viewers for game one, the most watched MLB game ever on the channel, with game two averaging 300,000.
Much has been made of the international element of this year’s World Series, with the Blue jays becoming the first Canadian side to reach this stage since their triumphant 1993 campaign, and players from 13 diffrent nations represented among the two sides – most notably Shohei Ohtani.
In Ohtani’s homeland of Japan, NHK averaged 11.8 million for game one, making it the most watched World Series game ever in the country, with game two averaging 9.5 million. These figures were achieved despite the games starting at 9am local time.
When Japan is factored in, MLB achieved combined average viewership of 32.6 million - the highest since 2016.
Last year’s world Series between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees averaged 15.2 million in the US on Fox. While this was still a seven-year high, the broadcaster’s hopes that the involvement of the US’ two biggest media markets would deliver a blockbuster rating were scuppered when the series concluded after five games.
With the Blue Jays now leading the Dodgers at 3-2, MLB will hope a Dodgers…