The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51M watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
