The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
