The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
