The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
