The thrilling extended contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
