The exciting 11-inning clash that saw the Dodgers defeat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51 million viewers across the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball announced this marks the most-watched World Series finale after the 1991 edition contest featuring the Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 edition final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked fourth, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
International Audience Numbers
In the Canadian market, the climactic game recorded 11.6M viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English-language program in Canada after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final game began at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million viewers. This came after last Friday’s sixth game – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – recorded over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Averages and Patterns
The entire seven-match series drew 15.71M viewers on Fox, a two percent rise from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the total American average was 16.1 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete MLB Postseason on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09M viewers, an 8% rise over the previous year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by forty-four media partners in sixteen various languages.