The exciting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 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 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
