The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
