The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
