The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
