The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
