The nail-biting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
