The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
