The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
