The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
