The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
