The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
