The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
