The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
