The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
