The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
