The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
