The thrilling extended clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate over 50 million watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million viewers, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million viewers on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight seasons.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average reached 16.1 million. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different languages.
