The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per 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 Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
