The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
