The exciting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the last Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game recorded 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic MVP Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen viewership increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and Fox’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
