The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
