The nail-biting 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51M viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different languages.
