The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
