The exciting extra-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51M viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
