The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
