The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
