The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
