The exciting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition 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 the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
