Fall Classic Final Game Attracts 51M Viewers In the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The exciting extended contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
