The thrilling extended clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
