The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
