The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
