The exciting 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51 million spectators in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
