The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
