The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
