The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
