The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
