The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.