The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
