The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country 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 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World 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 after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
