The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various tongues.
