The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
