The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
