The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
