The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a aggregate 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average was 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
