Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Viewers Across the US, Canada and Japan Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
