The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports 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 is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
