The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
