Fall Classic Final Game Captures 51 Million Audience Members Across the United States, Canada and Japan Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 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 broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
