The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a total 51 million viewers across the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their streaming platforms. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous Game 7 featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, Game 6 placed 4th, the fourth game ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th position.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded over 11 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Patterns
The full seven-game series averaged 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen viewership increases for two consecutive years.
Including the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew over 8 million watchers, an eight percent rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was televised in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in sixteen various tongues.
