The exciting extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – 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 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
