World Series Final Game Captures Over 50 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
