The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
