Fall Classic Final Game Draws Over 50 Million Viewers Across the United States, Canadian and Japan Markets.
The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million watchers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership 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 recorded 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
