The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
