The exciting extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
