The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
