The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
