The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
