The nail-biting extra-inning clash where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run attracted a total 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase over the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
