The exciting extended clash that saw the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. MLB announced this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Breakdown
Last Saturday’s epic contest secured over 27 million viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07M. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed fourth, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th place.
International Viewership Figures
In Canada, the game averaged over 11 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it drew 12M. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1M viewers, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Trends
The entire seven-match series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the total American viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise compared to the previous year and the network’s best playoff performance after 2017.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various tongues.
