The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
