The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
