The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
