The nail-biting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% increase over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
International Audience Figures
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The total World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and the network’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.