The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
