The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
