The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51M spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% increase over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
Global Audience Figures
In Canada, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12 million viewers. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an 8% increase over the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
