The thrilling extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
