The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
