The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
