The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, 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 most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
