The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
