The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
