The exciting extra-inning clash that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays by one run attracted a aggregate over 50 million spectators in the United States, Canadian, and Japan territories. Major League Baseball reported this marks the highest-rated Fall Classic finale after the 1991 contest between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Television Ratings Details
Last Saturday’s memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, its Spanish-language channel and Fox’s digital services. According to ratings data, it was the second highest-rated broadcast of the week.
It additionally is the most-watched Fall Classic matchup since the 2017 edition Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Astros, which drew over 29 million. This marks a sixteen percent improvement compared to the previous finale between the Nationals and Houston Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the Nielsen ratings, the sixth game placed fourth, the fourth game was 7th, Game 5 came in eighth, and Game 3 finished in 13th position.
Global Viewership Numbers
In the Canadian market, the game averaged 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This made it the most-watched English program in Canada after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In Japan, where the deciding contest started at 9 PM local time, it drew 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s Game 6 – in which Fall Classic MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in six innings – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series game on a single network in Japan.
Overall Averages and Trends
The entire seven-game World Series recorded 15.71M audience members on Fox, a two percent rise from last year’s Dodgers versus Yankees series. This marks the initial instance after 2015 and ‘16 that the World Series has recorded viewership increases for two straight seasons.
Counting the Game 1 telecast on the Univision network, the complete American average reached 16.1 million. The total World Series viewership in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 recorded over 8 million watchers, an eight percent increase over last year and Fox’s strongest postseason performance after the 2017 season.
Major League Baseball stated that the World Series was televised in over 200 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen different languages.
