World Series Final Game Attracts Over 50 Million Viewers In the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
