The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
