The exciting 11-inning contest where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a combined 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in sixteen different tongues.
