The thrilling extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
