The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
