The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
