The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is 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 finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
