The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. 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 weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
