The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
