The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
