The nail-biting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51M watchers across the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase compared to last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen different tongues.
