The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
