The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
