The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
