The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
