The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
