The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after 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. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
