The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
