The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
