The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
