The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
