The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
