World Series Final Game Captures 51 Million Audience Members Across the US, Canadian and Japanese Markets.
The thrilling extended matchup where the Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US viewership was 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 various languages.
