The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
