The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
