The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
