The thrilling extended clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series 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 previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 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 since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
