The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic game secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game series drew 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
