The nail-biting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
