The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
