The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
