The exciting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 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 additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 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 recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership 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 viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
