The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
