The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
