The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
