The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
