The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
