The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
