The exciting extra-inning matchup that saw the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays 5-4 drew a aggregate 51M watchers in the US, Canada, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their streaming platforms. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also stands as the top-rated World Series game after the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game placed 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game came in eighth, and the third game landed in 13th position.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game recorded 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English broadcast in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s sixth game – where Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six frames – drew 13.1 million spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The full seven-game series recorded over 15.7 million viewers on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the first time since 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the opening game broadcast on the Univision network, the total American viewership reached over 16 million. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7M and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 averaged 8.09 million viewers, an eight percent rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by 44 media partners in 16 different tongues.
