The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
