The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
