The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
