The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball reported this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked fourth, Game 4 ranked 7th, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game 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 Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Including the opening game telecast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.
