The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
