The nail-biting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
