The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
