The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
