Shohei Ohtani can truly do everything — including set viewership records in Japan.
Major League Baseball said the opening two games of the World Series had an average viewership of 15.15 million in Japan with games airing on Fuji TV, NHK BS, and J Sports. Keep in mind that these are games airing live in the morning in Japan.
Saturday’s Game 2 averaged 15.9 million viewers in Japan, the most-watched MLB postseason game ever in the country. Friday’s Game 1 had an average viewership of 14.4 million, the second most-watched postseason game ever in Japan. The population of the country is estimated to be a little more than 123 million.
The U.S. side of the story has also been positive, especially when compared to recent World Series. The series is averaging 13.68 million viewers on Fox through the first two games, the best start for a World Series since the Houston Astros battled the Dodgers in 2017 (15.31 million).
When including Spanish-language broadcasts, the World Series is averaging 14.55 million viewers across all platforms (which includes Fox, Fox Deportes, streaming, and a Game 1 simulcast on Univision). Of note: Game 1 drew 1.3 million viewers on Fox Deportes and Univision, the most-watched for a Spanish-language World Series game telecast.
For an American audience, this is the best two-game stretch of the World Series since 2017, and it shows you how the Series has struggled. None of the last four World Series have averaged more than 12 million viewers, and last year crawled to an average of 9.1 million viewers.
(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)
