The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase over the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 ranked fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded over 11 million viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two consecutive years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
