The nail-biting extended contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
