The exciting 11-inning contest that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51M spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. Major League Baseball announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
The Saturday memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase over the last Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game drew over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – averaged 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-match World Series drew 15.71M audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09M viewers, an 8% increase over last year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
