The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined over 50 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total American viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
