The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
