The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
