Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51M Viewers In the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
