The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
