The exciting extended clash where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
