The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
