The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
