The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
