The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
