The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
