The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
