The exciting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
