The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
