The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
