The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
