The nail-biting extended matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a combined over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports networks, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. According to ratings data, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This marks a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was eighth, and the third game landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English program in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12M. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time after 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total US average reached 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
