The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
