The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
