The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
