The exciting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
