The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
