The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall 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 and its sister channels drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best playoff performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.
