The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
