The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
