The exciting extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
