The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
