The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
