Fall Classic Final Game Attracts Over 50 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
