The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
