The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
