The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
