The nail-biting extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million viewers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
