The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
