The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
