The thrilling 11-inning matchup where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Blue Jays by one run drew a total over 50 million spectators across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. MLB announced this marks the highest-rated World Series finale since the 1991 edition contest between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable contest secured 27.33M viewers on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s digital services. Per Nielsen, it was the second highest-rated program of the previous week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game after the 2017 Game 7 involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in thirteenth place.
International Audience Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English-language program in the country after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it attracted 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – drew over 13 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic matchup on a single network in Japan.
Overall Totals and Trends
The full seven-game World Series recorded 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete American viewership reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1M in Canada.
The full playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded 8.09 million viewers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s best postseason ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the World Series was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in 16 different tongues.
