(Bloomberg) -- Friday’s first game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers drew an average of 15.2 million viewers, the largest audience for the Fall Classic’s debut since 2017.
The Dodgers won 6-3 in an extra-innings thriller, the first championship between the storied Major League Baseball franchises since 1981. Fox Corp. aired the game on its main broadcast network as well as Fox Deportes, Univision and Fox Sports streaming services.
Viewership of the much-anticipated matchup was up 62% from the 9.4 million people who watched last year’s Game 1 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers, Fox said. An average of 15.3 million watched Game 1 in 2017 between the Dodgers and the Houston Astros.
In the Los Angeles market, the game had a 19.1 rating, or percentage of the potential audience, and a 58 share, or percentage of active viewers. In New York, it delivered a 13.2 rating and 37 share.
Game 2 is Saturday night, also at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, before the best-of-seven series shifts to New York’s Yankee Stadium for three games, if needed.
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