The nail-biting 11-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a total over 50 million spectators across the US, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this represents the most-watched World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game drew over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in Canada since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series averaged 15.71 million viewers on the Fox network, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB stated that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four media partners in 16 various tongues.
