The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
