The exciting extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
