The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
