The thrilling extended matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and Fox’s best postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
