The exciting extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the last Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
