The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
