The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
