The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
