The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
