The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
