The nail-biting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a aggregate 51M spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB stated this marks the most-watched Fall Classic finale since the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Television Viewership Details
The Saturday epic contest averaged 27.33M audience members on Fox networks, Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms. According to Nielsen, it was the second most-watched program of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched Fall Classic game after the 2017 final game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, which drew 29.07M. This marks a 16% improvement over the previous finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 ranked 4th, the fourth game was seventh, the fifth game was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
International Viewership Numbers
In Canada, the climactic game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the highest-rated English-language program in the country since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final game began at 9 p.m. local time, it averaged 12 million. This came after last Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic Most Valuable Player Yamamoto gave up a single run in six frames – averaged 13.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched Fall Classic game on a sole broadcaster in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game series recorded 15.71 million audience members on Fox, a two percent increase from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the Fall Classic has seen audience increases for two consecutive seasons.
Counting the opening game telecast on the Univision network, the complete US average was 16.1M. The total World Series average in Japan was 9.7 million and 8.1 million in Canada.
The full MLB Postseason on Fox and its sister channels recorded 8.09M watchers, an 8% rise over the previous year and the network’s best postseason ratings after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball reported that the World Series was broadcast in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
