The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
