The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
