The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
