The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
