The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
