The nail-biting extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance since the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
