The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase over the previous year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
