The thrilling extra-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a total 51M spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
