The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
