The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
