The thrilling extended contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 averaged a aggregate 51M watchers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese markets. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. According to 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 Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent increase compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
International Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it drew 12 million viewers. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series MVP Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a 2% increase from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US average reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 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 Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 various tongues.
