The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
