The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
