The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
