The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
