The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
