The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
