The nail-biting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
