The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
