The exciting extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance since 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
