The thrilling extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings 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 highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
