The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance since the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different languages.
