Fall Classic Final Game Attracts 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japan Regions.
The exciting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
