The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
