The nail-biting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a total over 50 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this is the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 ranked seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and the third game landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a single run in six frames – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership was 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market 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 watchers, an 8% increase compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings since 2017.
Major League Baseball stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 various tongues.