The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
