The nail-biting 11-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run averaged a total 51 million viewers in the US, Canada, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale between the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language broadcast in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match World Series drew 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise 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 consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1M. The total Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 different languages.
