The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.