The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
