The nail-biting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total 51 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this is the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – averaged 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience growth for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American viewership was over 16 million. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million watchers, an 8% increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB announced that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
