The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
