The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 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 eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
