The thrilling 11-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
