The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
