The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
