The thrilling extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined 51 million spectators in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball stated this is the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest drew 27.33M viewers on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports. This was the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series recorded 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
