The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
