The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 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 total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
