The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. 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 innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
