Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51M Viewers Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
