The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
