The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
