The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
The Saturday epic game secured over 27 million audience members on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated World Series matchup since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 was seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth position.
Global Viewership 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 program in Canada after the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Totals and Patterns
The full seven-game World Series averaged over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This marks the first time after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total US viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and the network’s best playoff ratings after 2017.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
