Super Bowl Sunday Compared to World Series and WBC Final

As many football fans around the globe anxiously await for Sunday’s action between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, the big game is set to draw in millions of views from fans everywhere watching at home, or even in person in New Orleans. With the MLB Spring Training set to begin after the Super Bowl, we take a look at how the Super Bowl compares to the World Series, and the 2023 World Baseball Classic Finals between Samurai Japan and the United States.

Viewership and Ratings

According to AP News, the 2024 Super Bowl aired on CBS had a 43.5 rating and drew in 83 shares. In 2023, the Super Bowl was aired on FOX which had a 40 rating, and 77 shares. Nielsen reported an estimation of 123.7 million viewers tuned into the action, which averaged 120.3 million viewers on CBS, making it the largest audience for a single-network telecast to this date. Additionally , 2.3 million viewers watched the Spanish-language broadcast on Univision, while 1.2 million watched the kid-friendly broadcast on Nickelodeon and Nick-at-Nite. Compared to 2023, there were about 8,618,000 more fans tuned into the 2024 Super Bowl.

For the 2024 World Series, more than 30 million combined average viewers between North America and Asia were tuned into the Fall Classic. FOX reported viewership in the U.S. averaged 15.8 million across its platforms, a 67% increase from 2023. In Japan, it was the most-watched World Series in history with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto making their Fall Classic debuts, averaging 12.1 million viewers in Japan. Game Two drew in 15.9 million Japanese viewers, as the first game drew in 14.4 million.

As for the 2023 World Baseball Classic final between the United States and Samurai Japan, Forbes reported both record-breaking attendance, and record-breaking television viewership in the U.S. and internationally. Attendance for the tournament totaled at 1,306,414, making it the highest attended WBC since 2006. The championship game was sold out at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.

On television, 42.4% of Japanese households tuned into the WBC Final, with the game being played at 8AM on a Wednesday in Japan. The most-watched game was the 2023 Quarterfinals between Japan and Italy, with 48.7% of Japanese households locked in. In the United States, about 5.2 million fans watched the WBC Final across FOX, FOX Deportes, and Fox Sports streaming services. The game peaked at 6.5 million viewers once Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout faced each other, with Ohtani striking out Trout for Japan to become WBC
Champions.

Star Players

Looking at some of the star players that arose during these series, the Super Bowl this year will bring back quarterback Patrick Mahomes, looking to win his third consecutive Super Bowl title with his Kansas City Chiefs. Many eyes will also be on Kansas City’s offensive skill players in Travis Kelce, DeAndre Hopkins, Isiah Pacheco and Xavier Worthy.

The Eagles also signed running back Saquon Barkley this past offseason, who was awarded NFL Offensive Player of the Year. The Birds also have quarterback Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Cooper DeJean, and Jalen Carter.

As for both the World Series and the 2023 World Baseball Classic Final, the 2024 World Series was played between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. The Yankees had Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gerrit Cole emerge as the top players, as the Dodgers had Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow as their top players throughout the Fall Classic.

Many fans also watched Ohtani and Betts compete against each other during the 2023 World Baseball Classic final, where for the United States, Trea Turner, Mike Trout, Nolan Arenado and Adam Wainwright were some of the best players on the United States team. Japan had featured both Ohtani and Yamamoto, but also saw Shota Imanaga, Yu Darvish and Lars Nootbaar suit up for their squad.

Social Media Engagement

With the Super Bowl set to kick off this Sunday, several companies have already started their social media campaigns and strategies to make them stand out for this Sunday. Dunkin’ Donuts has begun teasing their Super Bowl ad campaign, with a commercial featuring last year’s favorite Ben Affleck, as he had some guest stars with him. So far, they have shared 16 more Super Bowl videos on TikTok, with the first three videos building up to more than 10 million views.

The 2024 World Series also drew in tons of engagement on social media and digital platforms. According to MLB.com, the Fall Classic registered the most social interactions in history, with a 176% increase in engagements, plus a 209% surge in video views compared to 2023. Posts from the first day of the World Series totaled to 14.3 million engagements, while video views totaled at 160.1 million, the second most video views of any date in MLB history.

For the 2023 World Baseball Classic final, Shohei Ohtani gained the most followers of any player, with 1.36 million fans following his social media platforms. Also there were 564 more total engagements on WBC social media accounts during the first round of the 2023 tournament compared to 2017.

Overall, it will be intriguing to see if this rematch of the 2023 Super Bowl will draw in more viewers and have fans more engaged online in 2025. As it compares to the World Series and the World Baseball Classic final, many fans are preparing and gearing up for Sunday’s action between the Chiefs and Eagles. We will see if last year’s record-breaking numbers will be shattered once again.

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Photo Credit: The Associated Press