The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and 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 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
International Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The total Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
