Fall Classic Final Game Draws 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canada and Japanese Markets.
The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
