The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
