The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members 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 World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US average reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
