The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million viewers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the complete US viewership was over 16 million. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen different languages.
