The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
