The exciting extra-inning contest that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51 million watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 different tongues.
