The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various languages.
