The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
