The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
