The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over 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 ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
