The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
