The thrilling extra-inning clash where the Los Angeles Dodgers overcome the Toronto Blue Jays by one run averaged a combined 51 million watchers in the United States, Canadian, and Japan markets. MLB reported this represents the highest-rated World Series finale after the 1991 showdown between the Twins and Braves.
Broadcast Viewership Breakdown
The Saturday epic contest drew 27.33 million audience members on Fox Sports channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the previous week.
It additionally stands as the most-watched World Series game since the 2017 edition final game involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a sixteen percent improvement over the previous finale between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros, which drew 23.19 million viewers.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed 4th, Game 4 was 7th, Game 5 came in 8th, and Game 3 finished in thirteenth place.
Global Viewership Figures
In the Canadian market, the game drew 11.6 million viewers on Sportsnet and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English broadcast in the country since the 2010 edition Vancouver Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the final contest started at 9 PM in the local time zone, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which World Series Most Valuable Player Yamamoto allowed one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the highest-rated World Series matchup on a single network in Japan.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game World Series recorded over 15.7 million audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the first time since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has seen audience growth for two straight years.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on Univision, the total US viewership was 16.1 million. The total Fall Classic viewership in Japan was 9.7M and 8.1 million in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M viewers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s best playoff performance after the 2017 season.
MLB stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in 16 various languages.
