The nail-biting extended contest where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
