The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total 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 complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
