The exciting extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
