The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
