The exciting extended contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
