The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
