The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
