The thrilling extended contest where the Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 contest featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game secured over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated World Series matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth position.
Global Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees matchup. This represents the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The full playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in over 200 countries and territories by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
