The thrilling 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51M spectators across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
