The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
