The thrilling 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
