The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
