The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
