The exciting extra-inning matchup where the Dodgers overcome the Blue Jays 5-4 attracted a aggregate over 50 million viewers across the United States, Canadian, and Japanese territories. Major League Baseball reported this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 edition showdown between the Minnesota Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Details
Last Saturday’s epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the week.
It also is the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 Game 7 involving the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07 million. This marks a 16% improvement compared to the previous Game 7 between the Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 came in eighth, and the third game finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the climactic game averaged 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French TVA Sports. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 p.m. local time, it attracted 12M. This came after the previous Friday’s Game 6 – where World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six innings – averaged over 13 million spectators, making it the highest-rated Fall Classic game on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series averaged 15.71 million viewers on Fox, a 2% rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This represents the initial instance after 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has recorded audience increases for two straight years.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1M. The total World Series viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels averaged 8.09 million watchers, an eight percent increase compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball announced that the Fall Classic was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different tongues.
