The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed 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 made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
