The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
