World Series Final Game Attracts 51 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japanese Regions.
The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated World Series Game 7 since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
