The nail-biting 11-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million spectators in the United States, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB reported this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the last finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Including the opening game broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels averaged over 8 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
