The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
