The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
