The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
