The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 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 is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
