The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
