The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game secured 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
