The thrilling extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
