The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
