The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
