The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
