The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic 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 drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
