The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
