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The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.

Broadcast Ratings Breakdown

Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.

It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.

In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.

Global Viewership Numbers

In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.

Overall Averages and Patterns

The full seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.

Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.

The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.

Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.