The thrilling 11-inning contest where the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
