The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
