The exciting 11-inning clash where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
