World Series Final Game Draws 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.