The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
