The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
