The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
