The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
