The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
