The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
