The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
