The thrilling extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million audience members on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in Canada since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
