The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
