The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
