The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
