The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
