The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
