The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
