The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
