The exciting extended matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays by one run drew a combined over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 showdown featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable contest drew 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally is the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6M viewers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The entire seven-match World Series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total American average was 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and the network’s best postseason performance after 2017.
MLB announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
