World Series Final Game Captures 51M Audience Members In the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
