The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
