The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall 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 watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
