The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 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 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
