The thrilling 11-inning contest that saw the Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canada, and Japanese territories. MLB stated this marks the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 edition showdown featuring the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged 27.33 million viewers on Fox Sports channels, its Spanish-language channel and their digital services. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the top-rated Fall Classic game after the 2017 Game 7 between the Dodgers and Astros, which drew 29.07M. This represents a 16% increase compared to the last Game 7 featuring the Nationals and Astros, which drew 23.19M.
In the weekly rankings, the sixth game ranked 4th, Game 4 was seventh, the fifth game came in 8th, and Game 3 landed in thirteenth place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6 million watchers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports. This made it the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the final contest began at 9 p.m. local time, it drew 12M. This followed last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – recorded 13.1 million spectators, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Trends
The full seven-match series drew over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two straight years.
Counting the opening game broadcast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1M. The overall Fall Classic average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox and its sister channels drew over 8 million watchers, an 8% rise compared to last year and Fox’s strongest playoff ratings after 2017.
MLB reported that the Fall Classic was broadcast in 203 countries and territories by forty-four broadcasting partners in sixteen various languages.
