The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
