The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
