The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated 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 drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
